WHO Urges Nations To “Wake Up” And Halt Coronavirus

Geneva:

The World Well being Group on Friday urged nations hit by critical coronavirus outbreaks to “get up” to the realities on the bottom as a substitute of bickering, and to “take management”.

“Folks must get up. The info just isn’t mendacity. The scenario on the bottom just isn’t mendacity,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan instructed journalists at a briefing hosted by the UN correspondents’ affiliation in Geneva.

Touching virtually each nation on Earth because it emerged in China late final 12 months, the coronavirus has hit no less than 10.eight million folks and killed 521,000 worldwide.

The Americas are the hardest-hit area, with most circumstances and deaths registered in the US, and with numbers skyrocketing in a a number of nations in Latin America.

Requested in regards to the dire conditions in nations like Brazil and Mexico, which have been shifting away from lockdowns regardless of ballooning numbers of infections and deaths, Ryan cautioned that “too many nations are ignoring what the information is telling them”.

“There are good financial causes that the nations must convey their economies again on-line,” he mentioned.

“It is comprehensible, however you possibly can’t ignore the issue both. The issue is not going to magically go away.”

Whereas he acknowledged that nations dealing with explosive outbreaks had some “fairly stark selections” forward, he insisted that “it’s by no means too late in an epidemic to take management”.

– ‘Worst case situation’ –

As a substitute of inserting a complete nation beneath lockdown, he prompt that nations may attempt to break down the issue.

It might be potential to loosen restrictions in areas with decrease transmission charges and nonetheless comprise the outbreak via issues like bodily distancing, hand-washing, testing, isolating circumstances and call tracing.

However in areas the place the virus is spreading uncontrollably, strict measures might be unavoidable, he mentioned.

“If nations proceed with opening up with out the capability to deal with the doubtless caseload, then you find yourself in a worst-case situation,” Ryan warned.

“If the well being system stops coping, extra folks will die.”

He mentioned there might be locations in Mexico and in different nations “the place it could be vital to decelerate or to reverse a few of the measures geared toward opening up society.”

“It’s : are you able to management transmission by some other means aside from transmission? If you cannot, chances are you’ll not have another” to lockdown.

Within the case of Brazil, which counts virtually 1.5 million confirmed circumstances, second solely to the US, Ryan in the meantime mentioned that the numbers had “stabilised”, which means they’re now not rising as steeply, however they’re “nonetheless rising”.

He additionally burdened that regardless of “combating numerous circumstances for a very long time now,” Brazil’s hospitals and intensive care items had not but been overwhelmed.

“We wish to see them intensify efforts and we wish to see extra progress,” he mentioned, “however we additionally need to pay credit score to the well being system in Brazil for its capability to manage for what has been an extended battle towards this virus.”

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)