Coronavirus: death toll ‘likely’ to hit hit 2 million before vaccine is in wide use, warns WHO
- Fatalities could double or worse without concerted action to curb pandemic, says head of UN agency’s emergencies programme
- He added that young people should not be blamed for recent spike in infections despite growing concerns that they are driving Covid-19’s spread
The global death toll from Covid-19 could double to 2 million before a successful vaccine is widely used and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic, an official at the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“Unless we do it all, [2 million deaths] … is not only imaginable, but sadly very likely,” Mike Ryan, head of the UN agency’s emergencies programme, told a briefing on Friday.
The number of deaths about nine months since the novel coronavirus was discovered in China is nearing 1 million
“We are not out of the woods anywhere, we are not out of the woods in Africa,” Ryan said.
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He said young people should not be blamed for a recent increase in infections despite growing concerns that they are driving its spread after restrictions and lockdowns were eased around the world.
“I really hope we don’t get into finger wagging: it’s all because of the youth,” Ryan said. “The last thing a young person needs is an old person pontificating and wagging the finger.”