WHO says time will end the Covid-19 pandemic
(Baonghean.vn)- The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) hopes that the pandemic caused by the Corona virus will last for a shorter time than the 1918 Spanish flu and end in less than 2 years.
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| WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Keystone |
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the world will be able to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in less than two years, despite a surge in new cases in Europe. Western Europe has seen unprecedented levels of infection in recent months, particularly in Germany, France, Spain and Italy, raising fears of a widespread second wave.
In the Spanish capital Madrid, officials urged people in the hardest-hit areas to stay home to help prevent the spread of the virus, as the country reported more than 8,000 new cases in 24 hours. France reported more than 4,000 new cases for the second consecutive day, a number not seen since May, with urban areas accounting for the majority of the cases.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus compared the Covid-19 pandemic to the 1918 flu. He asserted that by “making the most of the tools that are available and hopefully with additional tools like vaccines, I think we can end it in a shorter time than the 1918 flu.”
“Globalization, proximity, connectivity are the disadvantages right now but we also have the advantage of better technology, so we hope to end this pandemic in less than 2 years.”
WHO also recommends that children over 12 years old should now wear masks in the same situations as adults because using masks helps prevent the spread of the virus.
In the absence of a vaccine, the most common tools governments use are to ask people to stay indoors or practice social distancing. Lebanon is the latest country to reimpose strict restrictions for two weeks to curb the rise in new cases.
The United States remains the country with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19, and although the number of new infections per day has decreased significantly in recent weeks, experts are still unsure whether the epidemic can be controlled in the United States.
Meanwhile, in Latin America, the WHO said the epidemic situation appeared to be stabilizing in Brazil - one of the global epidemic hotspots - and containing the spread there would be a "success for the world".
