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GENEVA (Reuters) – The world is now at a critical juncture for the COVID-19 pandemic and some countries are on a dangerous path, facing the prospect of health services collapsing under pressure, the head of the COVID-19 pandemic said on Friday. 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.”
Tedros said that too many countries were experiencing 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.
(Written by Peter Graff; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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