WHO sounds alarm as coronavirus cases rise by 1 million in five days
- Global infections hit 13 million, with more than 570,000 dead
- World Health Organisation chief warns there will be no return to normal for foreseeable future, with too many countries ‘headed in wrong direction’
It took 100 days for the global tally to hit 1 million cases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The disease’s spread has continued to accelerate, taking only 10 days to go from 5 million to 6 million infections, and six days to go from 8 million to 9 million.
The pandemic has now killed more than 570,000 people in 6½ months, and WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be no return to the “old normal” for the foreseeable future, especially if preventive measures were neglected.
“Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” he told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva. If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way.”
The disease is accelerating fastest in Latin America, and the Americas account for more than half the world’s infections and half the deaths.
Parts of the world – especially the United States, with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases – are still seeing huge increases in a first wave of Covid-19 infections, while others “flatten the curve” and ease lockdowns.
Some places, such as the Australian city of Melbourne and Leicester in England, are implementing a second round of shutdowns.
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US surpasses 3 million coronavirus cases, as White House pushes to reopen schools
“The president and his administration are messing with the health of our children,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN’s State of the Union programme.
“We all want our children to go back to school, parents do and children do. But they must go back safely.”
Coronavirus: Catalonia goes back into lockdown
WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan urged countries not to turn schools into “another political football”, saying they could safely reopen once the virus had been suppressed.
The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia urged residents of an area of 160,000 people where cases have surged to stay at home, despite a judge’s ruling throwing out a mandatory lockdown.
Spain, which has been one of the European countries worst hit by the coronavirus, lifted nationwide confinement last month, when the pandemic seemed to have come under control.
After the first cases were reported in China around the new year, it took three months to reach one million cases. But it has taken just five days to climb to 13 million cases from 12 million.
India, the country with the third highest number of infections, has been contending with an average of 23,000 new infections each day since the beginning of July.
In countries with limited testing capacity, case numbers reflect a smaller proportion of total infections. Experts say official data probably under-represents both infections and deaths.
