- The COVID-19 pandemic could be over within the next two years, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Friday that current advances in technology could help the world fight the virus “in a shorter time.”
- Tedros compared the current pandemic to the Spanish flu of 1918, which took two years to overcome.
- His remarks come as several countries see a renewed peak in infections after the summer period.
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The coronavirus pandemic could be over within the next two years, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on Friday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus compared the COVID-19 pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu, which took two years to overcome.
Tedros said that current advances in technology and in the healthcare sector could help the world overcome the virus “in a shorter time”, according to the BBC.
“Obviously with more connectivity, the virus has a better chance of spreading,” he said, reporting the BBC. “But at the same time, we also have the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it.”
“That we hope to end this pandemic (in) less than two years,” he told reporters.
Ghebreyesus also stressed the importance of “national unity, global solidarity” in fighting the virus, which was first reported in Wuhan, China in January
The Spanish flu has infected 500 million people – about a third of the world’s population at present – in four consecutive waves.
In the last two years, it has killed about 50 million people, including 675,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has so far infected more than 22.9 million people worldwide and killed nearly 800,000, according to a tracker by Johns Hopkins University.
Tedros remarks come as several countries see a renewed spike in coronavirus infections after the summer period.
In South Korea, health authorities on Friday recorded 324 new cases – the highest one-day total since March.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden puts on his protective face mask again and adjusts it as he rejects after speaking out about President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and answering reporters’ questions during a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, US, June 30, 2020.
REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
Spain, France and Germany have also seen dramatic increases in recent days.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 new deaths were announced in the U.S. on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 175,000, according to new figures from CDC.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Thursday opposed Trump’s treatment of President Trump in his speech to the Democratic National Convention, saying he had “failed in his most basic duty to the nation,” according to Vox.
Biden promised to introduce a national mandate to wear masks if chosen and said he would shut down the U.S. to stop the spread of coronavirus if scientists told him it would be necessary.
“I will be willing to do whatever it takes to save lives because we can not move the country until we control the virus,” Biden told David ABC’s ABC News in an interview that will take place throughout Sunday. sent out.
“That’s the fundamental mistake of thinking of this administration, to begin with. To keep the country moving and moving and growing the economy, and deploying people, you have to repair the virus, you have to deal with the virus. , “Biden said, according to The Hill.
