Coronavirus crisis: The raging coronavirus pandemic has the potential to get far worse if countries don’t take basic healthcare precautions, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. “If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
With the United States registering more than 60,000 new confirmed Coronavirus cases in a record single-day high, the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 13 warned that there would be “no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future”. Speaking at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom said, “It’s never too late to bring the virus under control.
‘It’s going to get worse and worse’
While a total of 13,135,134 confirmed cases and 573,304 fatalities were reported globally due to the novel coronavirus as of July 13, in a regular COVID-19 briefing, WHO chief Tedros said, “Mixed messages from leaders are undermining the most critical ingredient of any response: trust.”
He further said, “If governments do not clearly communicate with their citizens and roll out a comprehensive strategy focused on suppressing transmission and saving lives; if populations do not follow the basic public health principles of physical distancing, hand washing, wearing masks, coughing etiquette and staying at home when sick; if the basics aren’t followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go, it’s going to get worse and worse and worse.”
WHO’s comments come in wake of surging numbers in the United States which recorded 3,441,503 confirmed cases of COVID-19, accounting for nearly half of all new cases globally. In the largest single-day spike, Florida detected more than 15,000 new cases, prompting WHO to call the countries to draft newer comprehensive strategies to contain the outbreak.
Regarding the WHO experts in China, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said they would work with Chinese scientists and medical experts on “scientific cooperation on the new coronavirus tracing issue.”
China has argued that the virus might have originated outside of China and has angrily denied allegations that it covered up the scale of the outbreak as infections first began to spread.
U.S. President Donald Trump has harshly criticized WHO over its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused it of bowing to Chinese influence. The Trump administration formally notified the U.N. last week of its withdrawal from WHO, although the pullout won’t take effect until July 6, 2021.
“We have a basic consensus with the WHO that virus tracing is a scientific issue, and that requires international scientific research and cooperation of scientists across the world,” ministry spokesperson Hua said at a daily briefing. “WHO also believes that the virus tracing is an issue in progress, which may involve multiple countries and regions, and WHO will also conduct similar inspections in other countries and regions as needed.”
