WHO says pandemic 'far from over' as daily cases hit record high

Brazil is now one of the hotspots of the pandemic, with the second highest number of
confirmed cases, behind only the United States, and a death toll that last week
surpassed Italy's.
New coronavirus cases had their biggest daily increase ever as the pandemic worsens
globally and has yet to peak in Central America, the WHO said on Monday, urging

countries to press on with efforts to contains the virus.

“More than six months into the pandemic, this is not the time for any country to
take its foot off the pedal,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

told an online briefing.

More than 136 000 new cases were reported worldwide on Sunday, the most in a single
day so far, he said.
Nearly 75% of them were reported from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and

South Asia.

In response to a question on China, WHO’s top emergencies expert, Dr. Mike Ryan,
said retrospective studies of how the outbreak has been addressed could wait,
adding: “We need to focus now on what we are doing today to prevent second peaks.”
Ryan also said infections in Central American countries including Guatemala were still

on the rise, and that they were “complex” epidemics.

“I think this is a time of great concern,” he said, calling for strong government
leadership and international support for the region.
Brazil is now one of the hotspots of the pandemic, with the second highest number of
confirmed cases, behind only the United States, and a death toll that last week

surpassed Italy’s.

After removing cumulative numbers for coronavirus deaths in Brazil from a national
website, the Health Ministry sowed further confusion and controversy by releasing
two contradictory sets of figures for the latest tally of infection cases and

fatalities.

Ryan said Brazil’s data had been “extremely detailed” so far but stressed it was
important for Brazilians to understand where the virus is and how to manage risk,
and that the WHO hoped communication would be “consistent and transparent”.
Maria van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said that a “comprehensive approach” was
essential in South America.
More than 7 million people have been reported infected with the coronavirus globally

and over 400 000 have died.

“This is far from over,” van Kerkhove said.
At least half of Singapore’s newly discovered coronavirus cases show no symptoms,
the co-head of the government’s virus taskforce told Reuters on Monday, reinforcing
the city-state’s decision to ease lockdown restrictions very gradually.
Van Kerkhove 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”.

Ryan, asked about technical cooperation with the United States after President
Donald Trump’s announcement 10 days ago that it was terminating its relationship
with the WHO, said the WHO relies heavily on experts from the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
“We will continue to do that until we are otherwise instructed or informed,” he

added.

Source: Reuters