COVID-19: UpdateWHO Warns of Long Road Ahead with COVID-19
The global COVID-19 total yesterday reached 2,623,231 cases from 185 countries, along with 182,359 deaths. At a media telebriefing yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, PhD, the WHO’s director-general, said most of the epidemics in Western Europe have stabilized or are declining. However, there are worrying upward trends in Africa, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe, though numbers are still relatively low.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday said global COVID-19 activity is at different stages in different parts of the world and warned of a long road ahead with the virus.
The global COVID-19 total yesterday reached 2,623,231 cases from 185 countries, along with 182,359 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
Worrying Upward Trends in a Susceptible World
At a media telebriefing yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, PhD, the WHO’s director-general, said most of the epidemics in Western Europe have stabilized or are declining. However, there are worrying upward trends in Africa, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe, though numbers are still relatively low.
Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics, but some already-affected locations are seeing a resurgence. “Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time,” Tedros said.
He said social distancing steps have suppressed transmission in many countries, but the virus is still extremely dangerous, and early evidence suggests that most of the world is still susceptible. “That means epidemics can easily re-ignite,” he said.
Communication Key to Weathering Long Lockdowns
Another danger is complacency, and he said people are understandably frustrated with stay-at-home orders and the threat to their livelihoods. Though the WHO understands and shares the desire to return to normal life, there must be a “new normal” that is healthier, safer, and better prepared, Tedros said.
Key steps in the response, such as finding and testing all suspected cases, should still be the backbone of the response, and it’s also important to engage and empower people, he said.
CIDRAP reports that when asked about protests against stay-at-home orders, Mike Ryan, MD, who leads the WHO’s health emergencies program, said his work in different outbreak settings, including Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, shows that a high level of trust between citizens and the government is key. “That’s a valuable thing to have in the bank,” he said. “They have to believe there’s a plan, that there’s a reason for doing this.”
If plans and the rationale for response actions are murky, communications are vulnerable to be gamed and directed in counterproductive ways, Ryan said.
The process should be a two-way dialogue, which promotes transparency and ensures consistency so that people aren’t hearing different messages, he said, adding that civil society should also play a role so that not all communications are purely
