WHO: Covid-19 situation 'worsening' worldwide
The World Health Organisation said on Monday that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic situation is worsening around the globe, since it warned against complacency.
The WHO said it had recorded its highest daily tally of new infections, with Covid-19 raging in the Americas.
And as mass protests for racial justice sweep across the United States and beyond, the United Nations' health agency urged anyone demonstrating to take action safely.
The novel coronavirus has killed a lot more than 403,000 people out of at least seven million infected because the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
After East Asia, Europe became the epicentre of the condition, but has now been overtaken by the Americas.
"Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.
"A lot more than 100,000 cases have already been reported on nine of the past 10 days. Yesterday, more than 136,000 cases were reported - the most within a day so far.
He said that almost 75 % of Sunday's cases came from 10 countries - mostly in the Americas and South Asia.
Tedros said that in countries where the situation was improving, "the biggest threat is currently complacency", adding that "most persons globally are still vunerable to infection."
"More than half a year into this pandemic, this is not the time for just about any country to take its foot off the pedal," he said.
Turning to the wave of protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd on, may 25, Tedros encouraged active surveillance of the virus to make sure it generally does not rebound, especially in the context of mass gatherings.
"WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of most kinds," he said.
"We encourage those protesting around the world to take action safely.
"As much as possible, keep at least one metre from others, clean your hands, cover your cough and wear a mask in the event that you attend a protest."
"Stay home when you are sick and contact a health care provider," he added.
The WHO has continually stressed the value of tracing those who may attended into sustained, close contact with an infected person.
The WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan said a person who have been at a mass protest didn't necessarily meet up with the technical definition of a contact.
"It comes back right down to local public health analysis and local risk management," he said.
"There may be conditions with mass gatherings where local public health officials, based on an abundance of caution, could advise persons either to quarantine or to get tested."
Ryan added: "We'd hope that in any mass gathering now... people who've had now four to five months to essentially internalise, that somebody who is unwell... should really be at home rather than engaged in any public activity.
"But we'd always defer to national and sub-national authorities if they wish and need to take necessary public health actions that derive from risk assessment, that derive from scientific evidence."
Tedros meanwhile said that the WHO had up to now shipped a lot more than five million components of personal protective equipment to 110 countries.
The global health body aims to ship more than 129 million components of PPE to 126 nations. - AFP
