A clearly frustrated World Health Organization (W.H.O.) warned Monday the global Chinese coronavirus pandemic was “worsening” not receding, telling countries loosening lockdowns to observe active surveillance and tracing of infected populations.
The W.H.O. issued its warning as Moscow emerged from its strict coronavirus lockdown. With more than 485,000 cases, Russia has the third-highest number of confirmed infections after the United States and Brazil.
As other large parts of Europe, along with Asia and the United States reopen, the W.H.O. reported a record number of new coronavirus cases globally, using that as evidence for its warning calls for countries to keep their lockdown gains secure.
Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some 136,000 cases had been reported in the previous 24 hours, “the most in a single day so far,” with the majority of them in the Americas and South Asia.
“Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” he told reporters.
With almost 7M #COVID19 cases & 400K deaths globally, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal. We urge active:
-surveillance to ensure the virus does not rebound
-finding, isolating, testing & caring for every case
-tracing & quarantining every contact https://t.co/B7po1dAN3F— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) June 8, 2020
Tedros said that in countries where the situation was improving, “the biggest threat is now complacency”, adding “most people globally are still susceptible to infection.”
“More than six months into this pandemic, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal,” he said.
New York City — the epicentre of America’s coronavirus outbreak — began partially reopening its shattered economy on Monday after almost three months of lockdown, as AP reports.
Some 400,000 New Yorkers were allowed to return to work as retailers began offering limited in-store and curbside pickup, with construction and manufacturing also permitted to resume operations.
The W.H.O. call for caution came on the same day it revealed coronavirus patients without symptoms, or asymptomatic patients, are not the ones spreading the virus, as Breitbart News reported.
Coronavirus deaths have passed 404,000 worldwide, with more than seven million infections, since the disease emerged in China late last year before sweeping the globe, subjecting billions to some form of lockdown and paralysing global economies.
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