WHO warns of one million coronavirus infections in eight days

WHO on Monday issued a warning of one million coronavirus infections in eight days. WHO Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared an alarming virus statistic that has dispelled any notion we may be near the end of the pandemic.

It took more than three months for the world to get to one million virus cases, but the last one million cases have come in just eight days, the head of the WHO has warned as COVID-19 cases continue to rise exponentially. 

Ghebreyesus said world leaders must not politicise the coronavirus pandemic but unite to fight it, reminding all that the pandemic is still accelerating and producing record daily increases in infections.

The comments by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has faced criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, came as the number of reported infections soared in Brazil, Iraq, India and southern and western U.S. states, straining local hospitals.

Speaking during a videoconference for the Dubai-based World Government Summit, Tedros never mentioned Trump’s name or the fact that he is determined to pull the United States out of the U.N. health agency but warned against “politicising” the pandemic.

The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership, he said.

We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.

Nearly 9 million people have been infected by the virus worldwide and more than 468,000 have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the actual numbers are much higher, due to limited testing and asymptomatic cases.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that, indeed, the world was not prepared, Tedros said. Globally, the pandemic is still accelerating.

Companies around the world are racing to find a vaccine to counter COVID-19 and there is a fierce debate about how to make sure that vaccine is distributed fairly.