Children sit in the classroom for the first day of the new school year classes at GuthsMuths Elementary School during the coronavirus pandemic on August 10, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
Maja Hitij | Getty Images
The World Health Organization said Monday that there are glimmers of hope in the fight against the coronavirus, even as worldwide cases of the virus approach close to 20 million and kill 750,000.
“I know that many of you are saddened and that this is a difficult moment for the world,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference at Geneva’s headquarters. “But I want to be clear, there are green shoots of hope and that does not matter where a country, a region, a city or a city is, it is never too late for the outbreak of Covid-19 to turn. “
Tedros said some countries in Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Rwanda and islands across the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific could suppress the virus early.
France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom had major outbreaks of coronavirus and they were able to suppress it as well, he said. He attributed the decline in the rate of new cases in those countries to “strong and precise” measures by leaders such as orders to stay home and mask mandates.
The WHO recommends that people wear masks as a way to slow down the spread of the virus, and wash their hands regularly, keep away from others and avoid crowded places.
“In France, President Emmanuel Macron introduced mandatory masking in busy open spaces of Paris in response to an increase in cases,” Tedros said.
He said whether countries like regions have successfully eliminated Covid-19, suppressed transmission to a low level or are still in the midst of a major outbreak, now is the time to ‘do it all’. “Invest in public health and we can save both lives and livelihoods,” he said.
The United States has the worst outbreak in the world with more than 5 million cases and at least 162,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. President Donald Trump has attributed the cases to an increase in testing. However, health experts dispute that claim, saying the rate of cases testing positive in the U.S., hospitalizations and deaths remain high in some states.
At least 162,000 people have already died from the coronavirus and projections previously used by the White House estimate that could climb to nearly 300.00 Americans by Dec.1. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation also expects an increase in the number of hospital beds and ventilators that will be needed.
Public health experts and infectious disease specialists say a strong, coordinated message about the virus from the federal government and US states is more important than ever because health officials fear the virus could now be widely circulated in parts of the country. e Midwest.
In recent weeks, how and how schools in the U.S. have become a hotbed issue again this fall, as the role children play in spreading the disease is not yet clear. On Friday, Gov. Andrew New York of New York announced that all school districts in the state were authorized to reopen for the fall semester, including New York City, the nation’s largest school district.
Tedros called for the reopening of schools on Monday, saying countries should take a “risk-based approach” while remaining “waiting” for potential clusters.
“We all want to see schools safe again, but we also need to make sure students, staff and faculty are safe,” he said. “The basis for this is adequate control of Covid-19 transmission.”
He said his message was clear: “suppress the virus, suppress, suppress the virus.”
“If we effectively suppress Covid-19, we can safely open societies,” he said.
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