Coronavirus: WHO warns of long road ahead, may never be a ‘silver bullet’

Name: There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says
Uploaded: 2020-08-03T14:51:38.000Z
Duration: 46 s
Description: There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says

The World Health Organisation said for now, stopping Covid-19 outbreaks comes down to basics like face masks, social distancing and testing

An advance WHO investigation team has visited China to look into the origins of the virus – a demand of the US, which is leaving the world health body

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There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says

Agence France-PresseandReuters

Published: 10:51pm, 3 Aug 2020Updated: 3:19pm, 4 Aug 2020

The World Health Organisation warned on Monday that there might never be a “silver bullet” for Covid-19 in the form of a perfect vaccine, and that the road to normality will be long, with some countries requiring a reset of strategy.

More than 18 million people around the world are reported to have been infected with the disease and 689,000 have died, with some nations that thought they were over the worst experiencing a resurgence.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, handwashing, contact tracing and testing.

“For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. The message to people and governments is clear: ‘Do it all’,” Tedros told a virtual news briefing from the UN body’s headquarters in Geneva.

Tedros said face masks should become a symbol of solidarity around the world.