WHO sounds alarm as coronavirus cases rise by 1 million in five days
- Global infections hit 13 million, with more than 570,000 dead
- World Health Organisation chief warns there will be no return to normal for foreseeable future, with too many countries ‘headed in wrong direction’
It took 100 days for the global tally to hit 1 million cases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The disease’s spread has continued to accelerate, taking only 10 days to go from 5 million to 6 million infections, and six days to go from 8 million to 9 million.
The pandemic has now killed more than 570,000 people in 6½ months, and 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 is accelerating fastest in Latin America, and the Americas account for more than half the world’s infections and half the deaths.