WHO: Without Adhering to Principles, This Pandemic Will Only Get Worse and Worse
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, while warning about the “wrong path” in the process of combating the COVID-19 pandemic in “many countries,” has cautioned about the deterioration of the situation.
Tedros Adhanom said on July 14 in his press conference, “Let me be frank; many countries are on the wrong path, the [coronavirus] virus is still the number one enemy of people.”
Tedros added, “If basic principles are not observed, the only path this pandemic will follow is: worse and worse and worse.”
The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for testing suspected cases, tracking contacts, isolating and quarantining patients or suspected cases with the aim of breaking the chain of virus transmission.
Dr. Mike Ryan, Director of Global Health Emergency Programs, emphasized on Monday that in some parts of the Americas, authorities should move toward implementing travel restrictions with focus and limited to crisis-stricken areas.
Data and estimates show that at least 13 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19 so far, and more than half a million people have lost their lives.
These statistics and figures, however, face doubts in many parts of the world; neither the quality, nor the extent, nor the manner of testing, tracking and quarantining of patients is the same in different countries, nor is the transparency and information dissemination uniform.
The World Health Organization and its management have been accused by Donald Trump, the US President, and a number of senior officials of his administration of mismanaging the pandemic response, as well as pursuing a “China-centric” approach. Accusations that this institution has rejected.
While China and many countries in East Asia have largely controlled the pandemic for some time, the United States and several other countries on the American continent and some other countries like India are on the path of increasingly rising cases.
In Iran as well, warnings about worsening conditions in various parts of the country are increasing daily.
The official statistics of cases in Iran have exceeded 13,000 people; while some researchers and specialists of Iran’s COVID-19 response headquarters estimate that at least 20 percent of citizens have been infected so far. The official death toll has also faced various doubts.
In the United States, the hardest-hit country in the world in the current situation, in the state of Florida alone in recent days, the daily number of patients surpassed the total daily cases in all European Union countries.
In Brazil, the number of infected people is approaching two million, while more than 70,000 deaths have been officially recorded.
In India, the number of patients is approaching 900,000 with more than 23,000 official human casualties, in Russia the number of patients has exceeded 720,000 and the death toll has exceeded 11,000 people. The situation in Peru, Chile, and Mexico has also worsened further.
Source: Radio Farda
