About 3.4% of confirmed Covid-19 cases died, a figure well above the seasonal flu mortality rate (less than 1%). But despite these values, the World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the new coronavirus can be contained.
This Tuesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, urged countries to prepare for the appearance of patients with the new coronavirus in hospitals, also calling on health units to ensure the protection of their professionals. However, Ghebreyesus warned of the global shortage of protective equipment – including masks, gloves and goggles – revealing that the supply of supplies needs to increase by around 40% worldwide. “We continue to ask manufacturers to urgently increase production to meet this demand and secure supplies”, said.
Globally, about 3.4% of reported cases of Covid-19 resulted in death, while the seasonal flu it usually kills considerably less than 1% of those infected, stressed Tedros. Although I stressed that Covid-19 appears to “Spread less effectively than the flu” and that, it seems, people who are not sick cannot infect others, the Director-General of WHO also noted that the new coronavirus “Causes diseases more serious than the flu” and that “there are no vaccines or therapies yet”. Still, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus believes the outbreak of the new coronavirus “Can be contained”, explained to Reuters.
Mike Ryan, director of the WHO emergency program, said that travel restrictions and monitoring of travelers should be part of countries’ strategies, but they are not enough. “Countries that relied exclusively on travel restrictions as the only public health intervention did not do so well because, when imported cases arrived, they were taken by surprise,” he said.
According to Ryan, authorities should focus on containment measures, “But they must also be prepared” for the transmission of the virus among the community and to be able to mitigate its spread. “That is one of the dangers of using the word pandemic – is that, even if we are moving in that direction in terms description, we want containment to continue, ”added Ryan.
