GENEVA: The number of coronavirus infections around the world has reached 13 million, climbing by a million in just five days as the pandemic has now killed more than half a million people.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be no return to the “old normal” for the foreseeable future, especially if preventive measures were neglected.
“Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” he told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva.
“If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way.”
The disease accelerating fastest in Latin America, while the Americas account for more than half the world’s infections and half the deaths.
Many parts of the world, especially the United States with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases, are still seeing huge increases in a first wave of COVID-19 infections, while others have flattened the curve and eased lockdowns.
Some places, such as the Australian city of Melbourne and Leicester in England, are implementing a second round of shutdowns. Hong Kong will tighten social distancing measures again amid growing worries about a third wave.
The United States reported a daily global record of 69,070 new infections on July 10. In Brazil, 1.86 million people have tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 72,000 people have died.
The US state of Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday another 12,624 new cases the next day.
Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 US states, yet President Donald Trump and White House officials have repeatedly said the disease is under control and that schools must reopen in the autumn.
WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan urged countries not to turn schools into “another political football”, saying they could safely reopen once the virus had been suppressed.
After the first cases were reported in China around the new year, it took three months to reach one million cases. It has taken just five days to climb to 13 million cases from 12 million.
India, the country with the third highest number of infections, has been contending with an average of 23,000 new infections each day since the beginning of July.
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