The World Health Organization on Monday said that the world is currently witnessing a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities. The largest drop was reported in the Americas and Europe, which were the hardest hit regions in the world during the first wave.
“But it’s an unacceptably high plateau, with more than 5.4 million reported COVID-19 cases and almost 90,000 deaths last week,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing.
Currently, a second wave is ravaging South Asia with India reporting more than 300,000 daily cases over the last two weeks. Earlier on the same day, Dr David Nabarro, special envoy on COVID-19 for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that people should maintain social distancing and keep using face masks.
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“I’m pleased with the reality that people are being quite cautious, perhaps even a little bit afraid, of what this virus might bring”, Dr Nabarro said. “But I think, at the same time, we’ve got to get on with life, and we can’t go on mothballing ourselves forever”, he added.
“So, finding a way to restart, despite this fear, is what I think we will have to do,” he also said.
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The official added that a “very vigilant posture” must be maintained in the coming months. He also said that variants will appear for sure. He added, “at the same time, we have to get on with life so in our getting on with life, we have to just be on the lookout for new spikes of disease and deal with them when they come.”
(With inputs from agencies)
