WHO chief calls COVID-19 'enemy against humanity'
GENEVA, Switzerland — The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday called the new coronavirus an "enemy against humanity", as the number of people infected in the pandemic soared past 200,000.
Worldwide fatalities topped 8,000 and more deaths have now been recorded in Europe, the new virus epicentre, than in Asia since the outbreak first emerged in China in December.
"This coronavirus is presenting us with an unprecedented threat," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in a virtual news conference.
He stressed the need for countries everywhere to "come together as one against a common enemy: an enemy against humanity."
Sub-Saharan Africa has only recorded 233 cases and four deaths, making it the least affected region.
But Tedros warned the situation could quickly shift.
"In other countries, we have seen how the virus accelerates after a certain tipping point, so the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst, and prepare today," he said.
"Africa should wake up."
'Solidarity trial'
Tedros said the WHO was speaking daily with decision-makers worldwide "to help them prepare and prioritise."
"Don't assume your community won't be affected. Prepare as if it will be," he said.
The WHO has called for every single suspected case to be tested.
In countries where that was not possible due to soaring numbers of infections, Tedros insisted there were measures to reduce the burden on healthcare systems and make epidemics more "manageable".
He urged states to introduce physical distancing measures, including cancelling sporting events, concerts and other large gatherings, to slow down transmission.
But Tedros added that the only way to suppress and control epidemics of the virus was for countries to "isolate, test, treat and trace."
If countries fail to do that, he said, "transmission chains can continue at a low level, then resurge once physical distancing measures are lifted."
Tedros hailed that the first vaccine trial had already begun just two months after China shared the genetic sequence of the virus, calling it "an incredible achievement."
He also said WHO was launching a "solidarity trial" of five proposed treatments for the virus across 10 countries to figure out which was most effective.
But an actual roll-out of a vaccine remains far off.
Tedros called on all countries to use a "comprehensive approach, with the aim of slowing down transmission and flattening the curve.
"This approach is saving lives and buying time for the development of vaccines and treatments."
Not just the elderly
Michael Ryan, who heads WHO's emergencies programme, cautioned against downplaying the danger of COVID-19 for younger people.
"This isn't just a disease of the elderly," he said, stressing that "a significant number of otherwise healthy adults can develop a more serious form of the disease."
He called for the close observations of "even the mild cases for any signs of clinical progression towards a more serious disease."
Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO's emerging diseases unit, stressed that while children appear to be less affected, they too risked becoming seriously ill. One child had died in China, she noted.
"We need to prepare for the possibility that children can also experience severe disease," she said.
Asked about large variations in death rates being recorded in Europe, Ryan said there were several explanations.
Germany, which has so far recorded 8,198 cases but just 12 deaths, has taken a very aggressive approach to testing he said, suggesting "they may be detecting more mild cases as a proportion of all cases."
Italy, which has recorded nearly 3,000 deaths out of more than 35,700 cases, is meanwhile further advanced in the evolution of the outbreak, he said.
At the same time, Italy's health system has been overwhelmed, with more than 1,200 intensive care patients at one point in the north of the country.
"It is an astonishing number, and the fact that they are saving so many is a miracle in itself," Ryan said.
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
The head of US intelligence says that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus was created in the Chinese government's Wuhan research lab.
In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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