This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
June 22, 2020 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a fresh warning over the dangers of the new coronavirus, even as France returns to life by staging an annual music festival and sending millions of children back to school.
Despite numerous European countries further easing their lockdown restrictions, cases around the world are rising, especially in Latin America, where Brazil has now registered over 50,000 deaths.
There are also fears of a second wave, with Australians being warned against travelling to Melbourne, where the country's second-biggest city has tightened restrictions over concerns of a spike in cases.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual health forum in Dubai that the pandemic is 'still accelerating' and that the greatest threat facing the world is not the virus itself, but 'the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.'
He warned that the pandemic is 'much more than a health crisis, it is an economic crisis, a social crisis and in many countries a political crisis' and that its effects will be felt for decades to come.
France, meanwhile, has eased its lockdown further and staged its annual music festival on Sunday, with music returning to cafes and street corners. Revellers packed the streets of Paris, most shunning masks and social distancing, to enjoy concerts in cafes and on street corners.
However, not everyone is happy with the easing of restrictions, with Dr Gilbert Deray saying that the festival was 'not what a gradual end to the lockdown looks like.'
Children up to the age of 15 also returned to school in France on Monday, with attendance switched from voluntary to compulsory.
But fears remain that the virus may be on its way back, even as countries where infections have ebbed lift their lockdowns to restart battered economies.
Australians were warned Monday to avoid travelling to Melbourne, as the country's second-biggest city tightened restrictions over fears of a second wave.
Victoria state has recorded more than 110 cases in the past week - many of them in Melbourne - prompting leaders of other regions to warn against visiting the city's six designated virus 'hot spots.'
