The World Health Organization (WHO) alerted this Wednesday on the “quasi-exponential” progression of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, when the number of deaths more than doubled in a week.
“As we enter the fourth month of the pandemic, I am deeply concerned about the rapid escalation and global spread of infections,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during a virtual press conference from Geneva.
Soon a million confirmed cases?
After “the number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week, in the next few days we will reach 1 million confirmed cases and 50,000 deaths,” he said.
“This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus (…) and its behavior is not very well known. We must be in unison to fight this unknown and dangerous virus,” he said. .
The coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China on December 31. Il has killed over 43,000 people worldwide, three-quarters of which in Europe, and the pandemic, described by the UN as the worst crisis that humanity has faced since 1945, now threatens to overwhelm the United States.
“Over the past five weeks, we have seen an almost exponential growth in the number of new cases,” said the head of the WHO.
More than half of the cases in Europe
Over 865,000 cases have been officially reported worldwide, more than half of which in Europe, 189,000 in the United States and more than 110,000 in Asia. Concern is also a major concern for developing countries, which are often destitute of the virus.
“Although a relatively smaller number of cases have been reported in Africa and Central and South America, we are aware that Covid-19 could have serious social, economic and political consequences for these regions,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“It is essential that we ensure that these countries are well equipped to detect, test, isolate and treat cases, and identify contacts,” he continued, “encouraged to see that this occurs in many country despite limited resources. “
“A virus still very recent”
While many countries face a shortage of equipment and instructions for their use vary over time, the Director General of WHO was keen to speak Wednesday on this “debate”.
“WHO recommends the use of medical masks for sick people and those who care for them,” he said.
And “masks are only effective if they are combined with other protective measures,” he said, adding that his organization continued to collect “evidence” to assess the possible effectiveness of a use. wider masks.
“It is still a very recent virus, and we are learning all the time. As the pandemic evolves, so does the evidence, as does our advice,” he concluded.
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