This archive report was first published on 23 April 2020.
WHO Warns of Long Road Ahead in Coronavirus Crisis ¶
Geneva, Switzerland, April 22 - The global coronavirus crisis will not end any time soon, with many countries still in the early stages of the fight against the disease, health experts have warned.
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 180,000 people and infected 2.6 million, and nations are struggling to check its spread with social distancing measures and lockdowns, while trying to repair their virus-ravaged economies.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday cautioned that the struggle is far from over, saying, “Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time.”
“Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics. And some that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases,” he added.
The comments came after the director of the US Centers for Disease Control asked Americans to prepare for a second, possibly more devastating, wave of coronavirus infections.
The United States is the hardest-hit country on the planet, with more than 46,500 coronavirus deaths and nearly 840,000 infections. Researchers have now revealed that the first COVID-19 fatalities in the country happened weeks earlier than previously thought — meaning the current US tally is likely far short of reality.
There was a ray of hope on that front in Europe, where Germany announced Wednesday that human trials for a vaccine will start by next week. It is only the fifth such effort to have been authorized worldwide, and is a significant step in making a vaccine “available as soon as possible”, Germany’s regulatory body said.
But even at the current, rapid pace of development, an effective prophylactic could be several months away.
Providing more evidence of the scale of devastation, the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization said Wednesday the pandemic could mean 1.2 billion fewer passengers worldwide, with hundreds of billions of dollars slashed off airline revenues.
