It has been six months since the WHO this week that the coronavirus declared as an international emergency. At the end of January, an emergency committee of the organization decided that public health in several countries is at risk from the spread of the virus.
‘People brought together’
“When I declared the emergency, fewer than 100 infections were known outside China and no deaths,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday.
“Meanwhile, the coronavirus has changed our world. It has brought people together – and pushed them apart.”
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The number of infections has roughly doubled in the past six weeks, according to the WHO boss. Although “tremendous efforts” have been made worldwide to stop the spread of the virus, “we still have a long way to go.”
Severe crisis
In WHO history, a health warning was issued only five times before. Neither of those crises was as violent as this pandemic, Tedros confirmed. More than sixteen million people have been infected with the corona virus.
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Yesterday, a WHO press conference also discussed how to proceed. Travel restrictions are not a long-term solution, the organization fears.
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“It will be impossible for countries to keep borders closed,” explained Mike Ryan from the WHO Emergency Committee. “The economy has to start running again, people have to return to work, trade has to be picked up.”
That is why countries must continue to use ‘proven effective strategies’, such as social distance between citizens and mandatory use of mouth masks.
Local lockdowns
Lockdowns are and remain an option, according to the WHO, to limit the spread of the virus. However, they must be ‘as local and as short as possible’. “The better we understand this virus, the more precisely we can tackle it,” said Ryan.
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