‘Lifting restrictions may lead to deadly resurgence’

The confirmed death toll from the new coronavirus has exceeded 100,000 worldwide, as the United Nations'  global health agency - the World Health Organization - warned governments against rolling back measures introduced to curb the spread of the pandemic.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday the agency would like to see an easing, but cautioned that "lifting restrictions could lead to a deadly resurgence".

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, Tedros said there had been a "welcome slowing" of epidemics in some European countries - Italy, Germany, Spain and France - but there had been an "alarming acceleration" elsewhere, including community transmission in 16 countries of Africa.

His comments came shortly before a tally by the Johns Hopkins University showed that the number of confirmed deaths associated with COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, stood at 100,376.

Some health experts fear the actual toll is higher given the challenges of confirming the cause of death, especially outside of hospitals, as well as limited testing, different rules for counting the dead and possible cover-ups by some governments.

As the new coronavirus virus spread across the globe, an increasing number of countries have imposed extraordinary curbs on movement and social contact in a bid to contain the spread of the disease and prevent healthcare systems from being overwhelmed.

With economically-crippling lockdowns extended in country after country, governments have been pressed to ease restrictions on key businesses and industries.

But with a vaccine at least a year away, the world faces an "uphill battle", according to Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the United States-based Council on Foreign Relations. He said that any one country or region's success in containing the disease was shaky so long as the pathogen continues to sicken people elsewhere.

 "There is a real risk of resurgence of cases for two reasons: the prevalence of asymptomatic people who might spread the disease without knowing they are sick, and the threat from imported cases," he said.

Around the world, public health officials and religious leaders alike have warned people against violating the lockdowns and social distancing rules over Easter and allowing the virus, which has infected more than 1.6 million people, to come storming back.



Dhaka/Mukul