The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 16 million people all around the world is undoubtedly the worst global health emergency ever, reported Reuters.
During a virtual news briefing at WHO’s Geneva headquarters on Monday, Tedros said the world could manage to beat the pandemic only with strict adherence to health measures like wearing of masks, washing hands and avoiding crowds.
“Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they are not, cases go up,” the WHO director general said.
Tedros said he will convene WHO’s emergency committee on Thursday that was constituted in January this year for the coronavirus outbreak. The panel will advise him on the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has changed our world”, Tedros said.
The WHO official said while the pandemic has brought people, communities and nations together, it has also driven them apart. He added that political leadership, increased testing, and hygiene and physical distancing measures have proven effective in some countries that have followed such techniques carefully to fight the outbreak. He praised countries like Canada, China, Germany and South Korea for their efforts to control the outbreak.
“We are not prisoners of the pandemic. Every single one of us can make a difference”, Tedros said.“The future is in our hands.”
Notably, the coronavirus resurgence in various regions, including nations that thought they had controlled the disease, is alarming the world, with death toll nearing 650,000.
Tedros emphasised the priority still remains saving people’s lives.
“We have to suppress transmission but at the same time we have to identify the vulnerable groups and save lives, keeping the death rates if possible to zero, if not to a minimum,” he said, praising Japan and Australia in that respect.
The WHO has been facing backlash and increasing criticism for its slow response to the pandemic.
