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Agencies

The World Health Organization voiced alarm over a rapid worsening of the Covid-19 situations in Brazil and Mexico, urging both countries to be serious about addressing the pandemic.
Both countries had seen both cases and deaths from the novel coronavirus surge in recent weeks as a second wave of the pandemic has hit.
“I think Brazil has to be very, very serious,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Monday, warning the situation there was “very, very worrisome”.
And he echoed the same concern when asked about Mexico, saying that country was “in bad shape”.
“The number of cases doubled and the number of deaths doubled … we would like to ask Mexico to be very serious.”
Brazil has been one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, with more than 172,000 people killed – the second-highest number in the world, following the United States.


After a seemingly endless plateau, with more than 1,000 deaths a day from June to August, on a seven-day rolling average, the numbers had finally been falling in the giant nation of 212 million people.
But Tedros pointed out that while the first week of November had seen 2,538 deaths, last week’s death toll in Brazil stood at 3,876 – “a significant increase”.
Case numbers had also effectively doubled over the same period, with Brazil facing 218,000 cases last week alone.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has played down the pandemic since the outset, has also dismissed talk of a second wave as “gossip”.
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The 65-year-old far-right leader, who has himself had Covid-19, argues the economic impact of lockdown measures were worse than the virus itself, and has also said he would not take a vaccine when one becomes available.
Mexico meanwhile saw its total death toll pass 100,000 on November 20 and has added more than 5,000 deaths since then, the fourth highest in the world.
Confirmed cases are in excess of 1.1 million, but public health experts say the true figure is likely significantly higher.
Meanwhile, Americans returning from Thanksgiving break faced strict new coronavirus measures around the country as health officials braced for a disastrous worsening of the nationwide surge because of holiday gatherings over the long weekend.


Los Angeles County imposed a stay-at-home order for its 10 million residents, and Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley, banned high school, college and professional sports and decreed a quarantine for those who have travelled more than 240km (150 miles) outside the county.
In Hawaii, the mayor of Hawaii County said trans-Pacific travellers arriving without a negative Covid-19 test must quarantine for 14 days, and even those who have tested virus-free may be randomly selected for another test upon arrival. New Jersey is suspending all youth sports.
“The red flags are flying in terms of the trajectory in our projections of growth,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “If these trends continue, we’re going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic, action.”
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Health experts had pleaded with Americans to stay home over Thanksgiving and not gather with anyone who didn’t live with them. Nevertheless, almost 1.2 million people passed through US airports Sunday, the most since the pandemic gripped the country in March, and others took to the highways to be with family and friends.
Now they’re being urged to watch for any signs of illness and get tested right away if they experience symptoms. Health officials are urging people to remain vigilant until a vaccine becomes widely available, which is not expected to happen for at least a few months.




On Monday, Moderna Inc said it would ask US and European regulators to allow emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine as new study results confirm the shots offer strong protection. Pfizer is also seeking approval for its vaccine and hopes to begin administering shots in the US in December.
The virus is blamed for over 267,000 deaths and more than 13.4 million confirmed infections in the US. The country on average is seeing more than 160,000 new cases per day and over 1,400 deaths a toll on par with what the nation witnessed in mid-May, when New York City was the epicentre.
A record 90,000 people were in hospital with the virus in the US as of Sunday, pushing many medical institutions to the limit.
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Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s foremost infectious-disease expert, warned on ABC over the weekend that the country could see a “surge upon surge” of infections tied to Thanksgiving. And White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr Deborah Birx told CBS that people who travelled should “assume that you were exposed and you became infected”, and get tested if they experience symptoms.
At least 1,467,000 fatalities have been recorded worldwide since the outbreak was first detected in China last December, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Scientists estimate around 70 per cent of the population will need to be vaccinated to bring an end to the outbreak, and this may not be achievable until the second half of next year.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press


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WHO alarmed by coronavirus second wave surge in Mexico and Brazil

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WHO chief says Mexico is in ‘bad shape’, situation in Brazil ‘very serious’
Americans returning from Thanksgiving break faced strict new measures


World Health Organization chief urges leaders to be serious about the coronavirus and set examples for its citizens.


WHO alarmed by coronavirus second wave surge in Mexico and Brazil

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}WHO chief says Mexico is in ‘bad shape’, situation in Brazil ‘very serious’ Americans returning from Thanksgiving break faced strict new measures

WHO chief says Mexico is in ‘bad shape’, situation in Brazil ‘very serious’

Americans returning from Thanksgiving break faced strict new measures