Mon 05 October 2020:
Pandemic will “continue to evolve” but said the world had the tools to help suppress transmission of the coronavirus and save lives
Around 10% of the world’s population may have already been infected with COVID-19, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert has said.
Dr Michael Ryan, the head of emergencies at WHO, said it was the institution’s “best estimates” to say 1 in 10 people have had the virus — although, he warned, this still leaves many in danger.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said hundreds of millions of people may have already been infected with the new coronavirus, far more than the current tally of more than 35 million.
“This varies depending on the country. It varies from urban to rural. It varies between different groups,” Ryan said in Geneva. “But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk.”
Ryan said COVID-19 cases and deaths were surging across Europe, Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, while the situation in Africa and the Western Pacific “is currently rather more positive”.
He added the pandemic will “continue to evolve” but said the world had the tools to help suppress transmission of the coronavirus and save lives.
“The future depends on the choices we collectively make about how we use those tools, develop, scale up and distribute others,” he added.
The US will not pay some $80m it owes the WHO and will instead redirect the money to help pay its UN bill in New York, a US official said on September 2.
