WHO says global COVID-19 tally to hit 20-million mark this week
The head of the World Health Organization predicted that the number of people infected by the coronavirus will hit 20 million this week, including about 750,000 deaths. In a briefing on Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that behind these statistics there is a great deal of pain and suffering, but said there were still "green shoots of hope" no matter what stage in an outbreak a country or region might be.
He offered no new strategies to combat the virus but said again that leaders must step up to take action and citizens need to embrace new measures, pointing to New Zealand as an example for the world. The country recently marked 100 days with no local spread of the virus.
Tedros said that recently adopted measures in countries including Britain and France, which have imposed targeted lockdowns and mask-wearing strategies in the last week, were a good example of specific strategies needed to curb a new upsurge in cases.
