Coronavirus pandemic: WHO says 80,000 cases of COVID-19 were reported daily in April; India and Bangladesh see increased infections

The number of active COVID-19 cases was 35,902, while 15,266 people recovered, he said.

An average of 80,000 cases of COVID-19 were reported each day in April to the World Health Organization, the main UN health agency said, noting that South Asian nations like India and Bangladesh are seeing an increase in infections while the number is decreasing in regions like Western Europe.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that countries must also be able to manage any risk of the disease being imported into their territories, and that communities must be fully educated to adapt to what will be a “new norm”.

He said that as countries advance the common fight against COVID-19, they should also lay the foundation for resilient health systems globally.

“More than 3.5 million cases of COVID-19 and almost 250,000 deaths have been reported to the WHO. Since the beginning of April, an average of about 80,000 new cases have been reported to the WHO every day, “Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Wednesday.

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Affirming that the virus cases were not just numbers, he said: “each case is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister or a friend.” He said that while numbers are declining in Western Europe, more cases are being reported from Eastern Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Americas. Even within regions and within countries, there are divergent trends, the agency added.
While some countries report an increase in COVID-19 cases over time, many have seen the number of cases increase because tests have increased, the WHO official said.

“We have also seen in Europe and Western Europe a fundamental decrease in the number of cases, but we have seen an associated increase in the number of cases reported in places like the Russian Federation.” Southeast, the western Pacific areas are relatively trending downward like Korea and others, but then we see in South Asia, in places like Bangladesh, in India, some upward trends.

“Therefore, it is very difficult to say that a particular region is improving or (not improving). There are individual countries within each region that are having difficulty controlling this disease and I am particularly concerned about those countries that have (one) ongoing humanitarian crisis, “said WHO Executive Director Michael Ryan.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 in India rose to 1,783, while the number of cases rose to 52,952 on Thursday, registering an increase of 89 deaths and 3,561 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases was 35,902, while 15,266 people recovered, he said.

Noting that while an increase in the number of cases is not good in terms of transmission, the director of the WHO’s Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses Unit, Maria Van Kerkhove, said: “But I don’t want to equate that with anything (being ) wrong”.

“I want to compare that countries are working very hard to increase their ability to find the virus, find people with the virus, have tests to identify who has COVID-19 and put into practice what they need to do. to care for those patients, “Kerkhove said.

As more countries are considering reducing restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the WHO has again reminded authorities of the need to maintain vigilance.

“The risk of returning to the blockade remains very real if countries do not handle the transition very carefully and in a gradual approach,” said Ghebreyesus.

He urged countries to consider the UN agency’s six criteria for lifting measures to stay home. That advice includes ensuring that surveillance is robust, cases are declining, and transmission is controlled. Health systems must also be able to detect, isolate, test and treat cases, and track all contacts.

In addition, the risk of an outbreak should be minimized in settings such as health centers and nursing homes, while schools, workplaces, and other public places should have preventive measures.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will eventually recede, but it cannot go back to business as usual. We cannot continue to rush to fund the panic, but let the preparation go down the road, ”he said.

He said the crisis has highlighted the importance of having strong national health systems as the foundation of global health security: not only against pandemics but also against the multitude of health threats that people around the world face every day .

“If we learn anything about COVID-19, it must be that investing in health now will save lives later,” said Ghebreyesus.
While the world currently spends around $ 7.5 trillion on health annually, the WHO believes that the best investments are to promote health and prevent disease.

“Prevention is not only better than cure, it is cheaper and smarter,” he said. The deadly coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, has infected more than 3.7 million people and killed 263,831 people worldwide, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.