[ad_1]
GENEVA: The world is now at a critical juncture in the COVID-19 pandemic and some countries are on a dangerous path, facing the prospect of health services collapsing under pressure, said on Friday (October 23) the head of the World Health Organization. .
“We are at a critical juncture of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.
“The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track.”
“We urge leaders to take immediate action to prevent further unnecessary deaths, the collapse of essential health services and the closure of schools again. As I said in February and I repeat today: this is not a drill.”
READ: COVID-19 Cases in 23 EU Countries and UK of ‘Serious Concern’
Tedros said too many countries are now seeing an exponential increase in infections, “and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units operating near or above capacity, and it is still October.”
He said countries should take steps to quickly limit the spread of the virus. Improving testing, tracing the contacts of infected people, and isolating people at risk of spreading the virus would allow countries to avoid mandatory lockdowns.
Several countries in Europe are reporting higher infection rates than during the first wave of the pandemic in March and April, and Spain says it now has more than three million cases.
Governments across the continent are imposing urgent new restrictions on daily life, with France extending a curfew to cover 46 million people and Ireland once again blockaded.
“Continued increases in COVID-19 infections … pose a major threat to public health, and most countries have a very worrying epidemiological situation,” said Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Prevention and Prevention. Disease Control (ECDC).
The agency said that all EU countries except Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Greece fell into a category of “serious concern”, as did the UK, compared with just seven a month ago.
Across the globe, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 1.1 million people, about one-fifth in the United States, and infected about 42 million.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
