WHO warns coronavirus to be with us for long time

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were "worrying upward trends" in early epidemics in parts of Africa and central and South America, warning that the "virus will be with us for a long time".

“Make no mistake, we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

While social distancing measures put in place in numerous countries to slow the spread of the coronavirus have been successful, the virus remains “extremely dangerous,” Tedros said. Current data show “most of the world’s population remains susceptible,” he said, meaning outbreaks can easily “reignite.”

“People in countries with stay-at-home orders are understandably frustrated with being confined to their homes for weeks on end. People understandably want to get on with their lives,” he said. “But the world will not and can not go back to the way things were. There must be a new normal.”

The coronavirus has infected more than 2.5 million people worldwide and killed at least 178,845 since it emerged almost four months ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

WHO officials have previously said partisan politics and a lack of global solidarity are helping to fuel the coronavirus pandemic, urging countries to work together as Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the world.

Source: Agencies

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