Guwahati: Amid the continuing surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths across the world, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, has warned that there would be no return to the "new normal" if the preventive measures that can be taken to thwart the contagion are "neglected."
Tedros told a virtual briefing from the WHO headquarters in Geneva that too many countries are headed in the "wrong direction", adding that the virus still remains the "public enemy number one." The WHO chief forewarned that if the "basics" are not followed by the world community, the situation is going to get "worse and worse and worse."
Tedros' word of warning has come at a time when the disease spread is accelerating fast in several pockets around the globe, with the disease accelerating fastest in Latin America. More than half of the world's COVID-19 infections and half of the deaths have been reported from the two Americas alone.
The cases in the United States continue to rise at an unprecedented rate and some regions of the vast country are witnessing a massive surge in the number of cases in this 'first wave' of virus infections. The sunny U.S. state of Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, July 12, which is more than South Korea's total since the disease was first identified at the end of last year. Although the virus cases are rising in 40 of the US States, the country's President Donald Trump is saying everything is "under control" and is pressing for schools to reopen in Autumn.
Some areas, where the curve had been flattened, have witnessed subsequent surges, prompting more shutdowns. Melbourne in Australia, for instance, is implementing a second round of shutdowns triggered by another outbreak.
Meanwhile, the global cases of the novel coronavirus crossed the 13 million mark Tuesday and over 572,000 people have died from the virus worldwide.