22nd April, 2020
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic will take a long time to leave the world.
“Make no mistake we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time,” he said at the daily virtual briefing in Geneva.
He noted the progress in Western Europe in taming the virus.
But he also pointed out the “worrying upward trends” in early epidemics in parts of Africa central and South America.
The WHO chief warned that opening up global travel needed to be managed carefully.
“Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics and some that were affected early in the pandemic are starting to see a resurgence in cases,” he said
WHO’s top emergencies expert Dr. Mike Ryan also warned against opening up global travel too quickly.
He advised that doing so would require “careful risk management”.