WHO Urges Worst Hit Countries By Coronavirus To 'wake Up And Take Control'

In a warning, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic to "wake up" to the situation on the ground, and to "take control" to stop the spread of virus

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Jul, 2020 ) :In a warning, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic to "wake up" to the situation on the ground, and to "take control" to stop the spread of virus.

"People need to wake up. The data is not lying. The situation on the ground is not lying," Michael Ryan, WHO emergencies director, told reporters at a virtual briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Noting that "too many countries are ignoring what the data is telling them", the WHO official said, "it is never too late in an epidemic to take control".

He added, "There are good economic reasons that the countries need to bring their economies back online. It is understandable, but you can't ignore the problem either. The problem will not magically go away." On Saturday, the total number of global COVID-19 cases crossed the 1.1 crore mark, surging up to 1,10,47,217. Meanwhile, the fatalities rose to 5,24,614, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The Americas are the hardest-hit region, with the US accounting for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 27,93,425 and 1,29,432, respectively.

On Friday, the US registered the highest single-day spike with over 57,000 cases, as the number of infections in 40 out of the 50 states were increasing at an accelerated rate.

Latin America, where Brazil has about 1.5 million cases, makes up 23 per cent of the global total of people infected. India has become the new epicenter in Asia, rising to 625,000 cases.

Infected monkeys were protected from coronavirus a month later In some countries with limited testing capabilities, case numbers reflect a small proportion of total infections. Roughly half of people reported to have been infected are known to have recovered.

Worldwide, there have been more than 520,000 fatalities linked to the disease so far, roughly the same as the number of influenza deaths reported annually.

The first death linked to the new coronavirus was reported on January 10 in Wuhan in China, before infections and fatalities surged in Europe, then the United States, and later Russia.

The pandemic has now entered a new phase, with India and Brazil battling outbreaks of over 10,000 cases a day, putting a major strain on resources.

Countries including China, New Zealand and Australia have experienced new outbreaks in the past month, despite largely quashing local transmission.