Pandemic far from over
![Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus](https://tds-images.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/styles/big_202/public/feature/images/who_4.jpg)
The head of the World Health Organization yesterday warned that the new coronavirus pandemic was far from over and said that he was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the disruption of normal health services, especially on children.
"The pandemic is far from over," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the body was concerned about increasing trends in Africa, eastern Europe, Latin America and some Asian countries. "We have a long road ahead of us and a lot of work to do," he said.
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He added that shortages of vaccines against other diseases were being reported in 21 countries as a result of border restrictions linked to the pandemic, citing the GAVI global vaccine alliance.
"The number of malaria cases in sub-Saharan Africa could double," he said. "That doesn't have to happen, we are working with countries to support them."
He said that the agency had sounded the highest level of alarm over the novel coronavirus early on, but lamented that not all countries had heeded its advice.
Tedros pointed out that the WHO warned the COVID-19 outbreak constituted a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern' on January 30, when there were only 82 cases registered outside China.
"The world should have listened to WHO then carefully," he told a virtual press briefing.
Michael Ryan, emergencies director at the World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that lockdowns might have to be reimposed if countries lift it prematurely.
His warning came as global confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 3 million yesterday and many countries are taking steps to ease lockdown measures that have brought the world to a standstill over the past eight weeks.
The first 41 cases were confirmed in Wuhan, China, on Jan 10. The 3 million confirmed infections in less than four months are comparable in number with the roughly 3-5 million cases of severe illness caused by seasonal influenza around the world each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
An average of 82,000 cases have been reported per day in the past week. Over a quarter of all cases are in the United States, and over 43% have been recorded in Europe.
The death toll from the virus stood at more than 205,000 as of Monday, and almost one in seven reported cases of the disease has been fatal.
The true mortality rate is likely to be substantially lower as the tally of infections does not include many mild or asymptomatic and unconfirmed cases.
Some severely affected countries in Europe, including Italy, France and Spain, have recorded a drop in daily case numbers over recent weeks, but still recorded 2,000-5,000 new infections per day in the past week.
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