"It took more than three months for the first million cases to be reported, the last million cases being reported in just eight days." WHO is hammering its message of caution in the face of the contagion of Sras-Cov-2. The pandemic "continues to accelerate" worldwide, warned on Monday the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The warning of the head of the WHO comes as many countries have entered a phase of deconfinement to revive their economies. Last week, the head of the WHO had described this new phase of "dangerous", estimating that, in spite of the need to get out of confinement, the virus continued "to spread quickly" and remained "deadly".
South American countries closely watched
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 465,300 people worldwide since China officially reported the disease's onset in December, AFP reported from official sources on Sunday.
VIDEO. Beijing on alert due to new cases of coronavirus
Latin America has just entered winter, whose low temperatures seem to be conducive to the spread of the virus. This is where the epicenter of the disease is now located. The new coronavirus has infected more than a million people in Brazil, and killed 50,000 people. We also deplore more than 20,000 dead in Mexico, more than 8,000 in Peru and more than 1,000 in Argentina.
Illustration of this fear: the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, the main tourist site in Peru, will not open on July 1 as the government had announced. Machu Picchu guides had indicated their intention to start demonstrations against the reopening on Monday, fearing contagion in an area where few cases are currently reported.
The new containment measures taken in China and India also raise fears of a rebound of the epidemic. Even if specialists see it more as a “magnifying glass effect” linked to the multiplication of tests.
Thinking after
"We know that the pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it is an economic, social and, in many countries, political crisis," added the head of the WHO on Monday. Its effects will be felt over decades ”. The head of WHO also called on governments and societies to prepare for possible future pandemics that could occur "in any country at any time and kill millions of people because we are not not prepared ”.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
"We do not know where or when the next pandemic will occur, but we do know that it will have a terrible impact on life and the world economy," warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.