The World Health Organization Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, addressed the media at the Geneva Headquarters and said, “the worse is yet to come and it’s a virus that many people still don’t understand” while also calling the virus “Public Enemy No. 1” and compared this situation to the Spanish Flu of 1918 which killed almost 100 million people.
Some days back, US stopped the funding of WHO by stating that WHO wasn’t doing enough and that they were “deeply disturbed” that WHO didn’t follow up the lead of the uncommon pneumonia that was flagged on 31st December in Taiwan and withheld the information of the human-to-human transmission in its statement on 14th Jan. So clarifying to this Tedros said that Taiwan hadn’t reported of any human-to-human transmission. The chief assured of absolute transparency and said that there were no hidden secrets because keeping secrets confidential would be dangerous as it is a matter of public health, moreover, the presence of US officials in the headquarters of the organisation is a strong indicator that transparency is being maintained.
He appealed to all to help prevent the tragedy by using technology towards a sustainable effort by individuals, communities and governments. He clearly warned that the virus is not going away any time soon hence easing the restrictions and lifting up the lockdown wouldn’t mean the end of the pandemic, putting restrictions can slow the spread but not end it. He emphasised the importance of contact tracing, proper isolation and preventive measures and has prioritized the production and distribution of test kits, although only 2-3% people appear to have antibodies in the blood that indicate the infection. WHO is giving technical, scientific and financial support to studies being conducted around the world.
According to the John Hopkins University tracker, the total confirmed cases are 2,623,231 and the total death toll is 182,740 as on the time of writing this article.
