Coronavirus pandemic accelerating: Warns WHO
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said the coronavirus outbreak is accelerating but insists “we can change the trajectory of this pandemic.” More than 1.5 billion people — one-fifth of the world’s population — were urged or ordered to stay home Monday to try to blunt the spread of coronavirus. Tedros said asking people to stay at home and other physical-distancing measures were an important way of slowing down the spread of the virus but described them as "defensive measures that will not help us to win".
"To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics - testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and chasing and quarantining every close contact," he added.
The death toll from the pandemic has surpassed 16,000 people worldwide, and the virus has sickened more than 370,000. In Italy, both new cases and deaths declined for a second consecutive day, providing a faint glimmer of hope, though it is too soon to say whether the crisis is levelling off.
A surge in infections has caused a critical shortage of medical supplies in many places. The hunt for ventilators and other critical items is consuming Europe and the US.
Meanwhile, amid the rise in novel coronavirus cases in India to 468, the World Health Organisation on Monday lauded the measures taken by the Indian government to contain the disease.
In a statement released to the media, Dr Roderico Ofrin, Regional Emergencies Director, World Health Organization of South-East Asia region said: "India has been rolling out a comprehensive and robust response to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19.
"Its latest announcements related to quarantine and social distancing measures, including recent lockdown of 75 affected districts, suspension of rail, inter-state bus services and metro services are initiatives of unprecedented scale and reflect the country's resolve to prevent the spread of the pandemic."
These measures can help slow down the virus transmission along with the continued effective measures being taken to isolate, test, treat and trace.
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