5th October, 2020
By Abankula with agency report
About 10 percent of the world population may have been infected with the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation warned today.
The high rate of infection leaves the vast majority of the world’s population vulnerable to the related COVID-19 disease, WHO added.
Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert, told the agency’s Executive Board that outbreaks were surging in parts of southeast Asia.
He also said cases and deaths were on the rise in parts of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region.
“Our current best estimates tell us about 10% of the global population may have been infected by this virus.
“It varies depending on country, it varies from urban to rural, it varies depending on groups.
“But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk,” Ryan said.
“We are now heading into a difficult period. The disease continues to spread.”
Ryan said the WHO has submitted a list of experts to take part in an international mission to investigate the origin of coronavirus in China.
He said the list has been submitted to the Chinese authorities.
As at 15:00GMT, 35,470,577 have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, although 26,679,910 have also recovered.
According to data by worldometers.info, the global death toll stood at 1,042,985 at the same time.
United States of America, India and Brazil are the worst affected by the virus.