The World Health Organization (WHO) is expecting that the number of global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases will increase to 10 million within the next week.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 9.1 million coronavirus cases have been reported to WHO, while they recorded more than 470,000 COVID-19-related deaths.
“In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10,000 cases were reported to WHO. In the last month, almost 4 million cases have been reported,” he said.
“This is a sober reminder that even as we continue research into vaccines and therapeutics, we have an urgent responsibility to do everything we can with the tools we have now to suppress transmission and save lives,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said “many countries” in the Americas have not reached their coronavirus peak.
“They are not reaching a low level of transmission within which we can achieve a sustainable exit from public health and social measures,” Dr. Ryan said.
Particularly in Central and South America, Dr. Ryan said they have seen a “steady and worrying continuation of trend with many countries experiencing between 25 percent and 50 percent rising cases over the last week.”
He added that the region can expect to see a “sustained number of cases and continued deaths in the coming weeks.”
Dr. Ryan said there are “no magic answers” in getting rid of the pandemic, stressing that people have to “act at every level” using the available resources to combat the virus.
“Look at the countries that have contained and controlled this disease and you’ll find your answers,” he said.
WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove echoed Dr. Ryan’s statement, saying that the prevention of coronavirus transmission is in every individual’s control.
“It’s not only in our individual hands, but what we do as individuals to prevent ourselves from getting infected, to prevent our families, our communities, our populations,” she said.
According to the latest data by Johns Hopkins University, the total number of global COVID-19 cases has surpassed 9.3 million, with more than 482,000 COVID-19-related fatalities.