The World Health Organisation (WHO) has made a worrying warning that the Coronavirus pandemic is worsening globally, even as the situation in Europe is improving. It further warned against any kind of complacency in handling the situation.
The WHO said it had recorded its highest daily tally of new Coronavirus infections, with COVID-19 raging in the Americas and South Asia.
At a virtual press briefing on Monday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening”.
After East Asia, Europe became the epicentre of the disease, but has now been overtaken by the Americas.
Globally, the novel coronavirus has killed more than 403,000 people and a total of 71,13,366 are infected.
With 1,36,000 cases reported in a day, the world recorded its highest daily jump of cases, on which the WHO chief said, “More than six months into the pandemic, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal.”
“More than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days,” he said and added that almost 75 percent of Sunday’s cases came from 10 countries – mostly in the Americas and South Asia.
He added that most countries in Africa are still seeing an increase in Coronavirus cases, including in new geographic areas even though most countries on the continent have fewer than 1,000 cases.
Tedros further said that in countries where the situation was improving, “the biggest threat is now complacency”, adding that “most people globally are still susceptible to infection”.
Reacting on the wave of protests across the United States over the killing of George Floyd on May 25 in police custody, the WHO chief said that the world body fully supports equality and the global movement against racism and rejects discrimination of all kinds.
He, however, called for social distancing while protesting.
“We encourage all those protesting around the world to do so safely.
“As much as possible, keep at least one metre from others, clean your hands, cover your cough and wear a mask if you attend a protest.”
“Stay home if you are sick and contact a health care provider,” Tedros was quoted as saying by AFP.
Tedros, meanwhile, added that the WHO had so far shipped more than five million items of personal protective equipment to 110 countries.
The global health body aims to ship more than 129 million items of PPE to 126 nations.
Meanwhile, Maria van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said that many countries doing contact tracing had identified asymptomatic cases but were not finding that they caused further spread of the virus, adding: “It is very rare”.
(With agency inputs)