US President Donald Trump has sent a letter to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) threatening to pull US funding permanently over Covid-19.
The letter outlines a 30-day deadline for the body to commit to “substantive improvements” or risk losing millions and US membership altogether.
Addressed to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, it criticises stages of the body’s response since December.
Earlier in the day, Mr Trump called the UN’s health body a “puppet of China”.
The president, who faces re-election this year and has himself been criticised for his handling of the pandemic, has blamed China for trying to cover up the outbreak and has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account.
The US has more than 1.5 million of the world’s 4.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, with more than 90,000 deaths.
Mr Trump’s ultimatum also comes at a time of pressure for the WHO.
On Monday Dr Tedros backed a review of the agency’s handling of the pandemic. He said an independent evaluation would take place “at the earliest appropriate moment”.
What does the letter say?
Mr Trump published the letter on Twitter on Monday night, following a day of heavy US criticism of the health agency.
US Health Secretary Alex Azar earlier spoke at the UN’s World Health Assembly and accused the WHO of letting Covid-19 spin “out of control” at the cost of “many lives”.
In his letter to Dr Tedros, the US president accuses the WHO of having an “alarming lack of independence” from China.
Among his assertions, Mr Trump accuses the agency of having “consistently ignored” what he describes as “credible reports” of the virus spreading in Wuhan at the start of December or even earlier.
The planet is paying a heavy price for countries ignoring the recommendations of the World Health Organization to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, UN chief Antonio Guterres told a virtual meeting of the WHO’s World Health Assembly on Monday.
“Different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies and we are all paying a heavy price,” the secretary-general told the WHO gathering.
Speaking after Guterres, the head of the WHO said he would initiate an independent evaluation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic at the “earliest appropriate moment” and vowed transparency and accountability.
“We all have lessons to learn from the pandemic. Every country and every organisation must examine its response and learn from its experience. WHO is committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the assembly.
Tedros thanked early high-level speakers for their “strong support for WHO at this critical time” and said that the review must encompass responsibility of “all actors in good faith”.
“The risk remains high and we have a long road to travel,” Tedros said. Preliminary serological tests in some countries showed that at most 20% of populations had contracted the disease and “in most places less than 10 per cent”, he said.
The Coronavirus “may never go away”, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Speaking at a briefing on Wednesday, WHO emergencies director Dr Mike Ryan warned against trying to predict when the virus would disappear.
He added that even if a vaccine is found, controlling the virus will require a “massive effort”.
Almost 300,000 people worldwide are reported to have died with coronavirus, and more than 4.3m cases recorded.
“It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away,” Dr Ryan told the virtual press conference from Geneva.
“HIV has not gone away – but we have come to terms with the virus.”
Dr Ryan then said he doesn’t believe “anyone can predict when this disease will disappear”.
There are currently more than 100 potential vaccines in development – but Dr Ryan noted there are other illnesses, such as measles, that still haven’t been eliminated despite there being vaccines for them.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed it was still possible to control the virus, with effort.
“The trajectory is in our hands, and it’s everybody’s business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic,” he said.
WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove also told the briefing: “We need to get into the mindset that it is going to take some time to come out of this pandemic.”
Pinning down the source of the coronavirus pandemic should help in working out how COVID-19 has “invaded the human species” so quickly, a senior WHO official told AFP.
The outbreak has triggered a fierce diplomatic spat between China and the United States – with the World Health Organization at the centre of the row.
In late March, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck an informal truce in the war of words over the origin of the deadly disease.
But it quickly broke down. Trump has been accusing Beijing of being slow to alert the world to the initial outbreak in Wuhan, and openly suspects China of covering up an accident at the eastern city’s virology lab.
Far from the cross-Pacific spat, Sylvie Briand, the WHO’s director of infectious hazard management, said it was crucial to know the origin of the virus “to understand how it has evolved”.
“It is a virus of animal origin transmitted to humans. And so we have to try to understand how the adaptation of this virus allowed it to invade the human species,” she told AFP outside the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.
Virus ‘ping-pong’
The first cases of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, were reported in late December in Wuhan.
Since then, the pandemic has infected more than four million people worldwide and claimed nearly 300,000 lives.
Many researchers believe the new coronavirus came from bats, but passed through another species before being transmitted to humans.
“The virus multiplied in these animals, changed a little in doing so and finally resulted in a type of virus” that is transmissible to human beings, said Briand, who in 2009 headed the WHO’s influenza progamme during the 2009 H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic.
Retracing the origin of the virus, by discovering the intermediate hosts, would “prevent the phenomenon from happening again — and avoid ping-pong” transmission between humans and animals.
“Every time it jumps from one species to another, the virus can mutate a bit,” the French scientist said.
“That can have an impact on treatments – it can become resistant – while vaccines may no longer be effective enough.”
For now, there are still many unknowns, despite “thousands and thousands of samples” having been taken, notably from “many animals in the market in Wuhan” – but also from dogs in Hong Kong, said Briand, stressing that the analysis will take time.
The samples are taken by WHO member states but the United Nations’ health agency “encourages them to share information with each other” in order to speed up research.
Changing the alert system
The United States and Australia have called for an international probe into the origin of the virus.
More diplomatically, the WHO has called on Beijing to invite them in to investigate the source.
Shortly afterwards in early May, China proposed setting up a commission under the auspices of the WHO to assess the “global response” to COVID-19 – and only once the pandemic is over.
The Chinese authorities insist that the plan should be signed off in advance by the WHO’s World Health Assembly or its executive board – the two main bodies of the UN agency, which host their annual meetings next week.
Briand said the gatherings should also focus on the need to “refine” the WHO’s health alert system, which only allows the organisation to declare whether there is a global emergency or not – while the previous procedure had six stages, with the last being declaring a pandemic.
“We need to find a system that can trigger alerts so that people can get ready,” she said.
“But at the same time we have to tell them whether it is imminent or if it’s coming in a few weeks or months, and tell them more precisely what it is they need to be prepared for.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will today launch the Tech Access Partnership to increase local production of essential health technologies in developing countries.
The move will see the production of ventilators and face masks in these countries as their health resources have been overstretched as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Global cases of the disease have surpassed 4 million with over 200,000 deaths.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, believes the new partnership will help needy communities access the critical tools in the fight against COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has exposed the uneven distribution of life-saving medical equipment across the world. [Today], the Tech Access Partnership will be launched to increase local production of essential health technologies like masks and ventilators in developing countries.â€
“This new partnership is another great example of solidarity that builds on the solidarity flights, solidarity trials and Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, which all aim to ensure the latest health innovations are reaching those communities that need them most,†he said.
More than half a million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die between now and next year from Aids-related illnesses amid the Covid-19 pandemic unless governments move to address the issue.
A modelling analysis done by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAids shows that the impact of a six-month disruption of antiretroviral therapy could effectively set the clock back on Aids-related deaths to 2008, when more than 950,000 deaths were observed in the continent.
“The terrible prospect of half a million more people in Africa dying of Aids-related illnesses is like stepping back into history,†Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general says.
UNAids executive director Winnie Byanyima warned that treatment could be interrupted, with HIV services closed or unable to supply antiretroviral therapy due to breakdown in the supply chain.
“It could even be because services simply become overwhelmed due to competing needs to support the Covid-19 response.
“There is a risk that the hard-earned gains of the Aids response will be sacrificed to the fight against Covid-19, but the right to health means that no one disease should be fought at the expense of the other,†Ms Byanyima said.
The WHO director-general said that countries need to ensure that those diagnosed with HIV are adhering to treatment and that testing services won’t be disrupted.
Some countries are already taking important steps, for example ensuring that people can collect bulk packs of treatment and other essential commodities, including self-testing kits, from drop-off points, which relieves pressure on health services and the health workforce.
“It will be important for countries to prioritise shoring up supply chains and ensuring that people already on treatment are able to stay on treatment” Dr Tedros added.
As many as 190,000 people across Africa could die in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic if crucial containment measures fail, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns.
The new research also predicts a prolonged outbreak over a few years.
“It likely will smoulder in transmission hot spots,” says WHO Africa head Matshidiso Moeti.
This patchier and slower pattern of transmission sets Africa apart from other regions, WHO experts say.
Other factors taken into account are the region’s younger populations who have “benefitted from the control of communicable diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis”, as well as lower mortality rates.
The WHO’s warning comes as Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, plus others including South Africa and Ivory Coast, have begun relaxing some of their lockdown measures.
Their estimates are based on prediction modelling, and focus on 47 countries in the WHO African region – Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti are not included.
Across the whole of the African continent more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths have been recorded by Africa’s Centre for Disease Control. By comparison, 140,000 have died in Western Europe, where the virus took hold several weeks earlier.
“Covd-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region,” Dr Moeti says in a WHO statement.
The novel coronavirus could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in Africa in the first year and infect between 29 million and 44 million in the first year if it is not contained, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
The projections are contained in a new WHO Africa study based on assumptions that no containment measures are put in place, which has fortunately not been the case, WHO Africa head Matshidiso Moeti told reporters in a teleconference.
Most countries on the continent have imposed restrictions on public gatherings, international travel and curfews among other measures meant to curb the spread of the virus.
The virus hit Africa later than other continents and transmission rates are lower than elsewhere. Still, this could translate into a prolonged, years-long outbreak, WHO said.
“COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region. We need to test, trace, isolate and treat,” Moeti said in a separate statement.
The organisation warned that small countries, as well as Algeria, South Africa and Cameroon, could be severely affected.
Notably, the WHO Africa study covered only the 47 countries that belong to the WHO Africa region and not the entire continent. The body’s regional definition excludes Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco.
As of 1259 GMT, the 47 countries had 35,097 cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,231 deaths, according to a Reuters tally based on government statements and WHO data.
Under the projected no-containment scenario, “there would be an estimated 3.6 million5.5 million COVID-19 hospitalisations, of which 82,000167,000 would be severe cases requiring oxygen, and 52,000107,000 would be critical cases requiring breathing support,” WHO Africa said.
Africa has less than one intensive care bed and one ventilator per 100,000 people, a Reuters survey found on Thursday.
Human resources are also a challenge.
“We are very concerned that almost 1,000 African health workers have been infected with COVID-19. We know that most African countries already have a severe shortage of healthcare workers,” Moeti told reporters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Regional Office has called on governments, private sector partners, innovators, scientists and communities to invest in access to water for health facilities and households in the region.
The office said the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) has shunned the light on the inequalities in access to basic services, adding that the situation provides an opportunity to improve access to water for vulnerable communities on the Continent.
“This year, as we battle the Covid-19 pandemic, the life-saving importance of clean hands has never been more prominent,†said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
In a statement to mark World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5, Dr. Moeti said hand hygiene, along with physical distancing; respiratory etiquette and disinfecting surfaces are the basic preventive measures for a range of diseases, including Covid-19.
She said the theme for the Day, “nurses and midwives, clean care is in your hands†was selected because infection prevention and control, including hand hygiene, is important especially in health facilities as part of ensuring quality patient care.
“We are also working with sub-regional nursing associations and other partners and have trained more than 3000 health workers via interactive virtual seminars, including demonstrating good hand hygiene,†she said.
Dr. Moeti observed the need for an urgent scale-up of access to water across the continent as more than one in four health-care facilities have no water service and less than 50% of households having basic hand washing facilities with soap and water.
“Over the past 20 years, progress on access to water in Sub-Saharan Africa is mixed,†she said.
“The number of people using unimproved sources remained the same. The number using surface water decreased by one third,†she added.
The number of people travelling 30 minutes or more roundtrip to collect water, has also more than doubled, with this burden falling mainly on women and girls.
The WHO Regional Director said her office is, therefore, working with countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners to ensure health workers have essential supplies, such as personal protective equipment, including gloves.
“In recent weeks, we delivered replenishments to more than 50 African countries,†she said.
Dr. Moeti further noted that an increasing number of facilities are producing alcohol-based hand rubs locally, but said it was not a substitute for safe, reliable water supply.
“In response to Covid-19, more and more hand washing points are being set-up, and we need to look at longer-term solutions to sustainably increase access,†she urged.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning against people using untested remedies for coronavirus.
Africans deserve access to medicines that have gone through proper trials even if they are derived from traditional treatments, it said.
Its statement comes as Madagascar’s president is promoting a herbal tonic for treating Covid-19 patients.
The African Union (AU) said it wanted to see the scientific data on the “safety and efficacy” of the product.
The tonic, known as COVID-Organics, was tested on fewer than 20 people over three weeks, a presidential aide told the BBC – which is not in line with WHO guidelines on clinical trials.
This can be a lengthy process in which a potential drug is tested in four phases, scaling up from a trial on a small number of patients to using it on a population countrywide.
Despite these reservations, several African countries, including Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia, have already ordered COVID-Organics, which is produced from the artemisia plant – the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment – and other Malagasy plants.
Last week, Madagascar’s President, Andry Rajoelina, spoke to an online meeting of African leaders about the tonic.
Following that meeting the AU asked to see more details about COVID-Organics which could be reviewed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
In its statement, the WHO welcomed innovations based on traditional remedies and plants but said they “should be tested for efficacy and adverse side effects”.
“Africans deserve to use medicines tested to the same standards as people in the rest of the world,” it added.
On Monday, more than $8bn (£6.5bn) was pledged to help develop a coronavirus vaccine and fund research into the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Dozens of research projects trying to find a vaccine are currently under way across the world.
Most experts think it could take until mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus first emerged, for a vaccine to become available.
Several African countries acted swiftly in trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus by imposing lockdowns or curfews. But these are now beginning to be lifted as governments try to balance health and economic interests.
The easing of the lockdowns has added urgency to the need to find treatments.
Madagascar has recorded 151 cases of Covid-19 and no deaths, Africa CDC says.
The president imposed a lockdown on the three major cities, but these have now been relaxed, the AFP news agency reports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning against people using untested remedies for coronavirus.
Africans deserve access to medicines that have gone through proper trials even if they are derived from traditional treatments, it said.
Its statement comes as Madagascar’s president is promoting a herbal tonic for treating Covid-19 patients.
The African Union (AU) said it wanted to see the scientific data on the “safety and efficacy” of the product.
The tonic, known as COVID-Organics, was tested on fewer than 20 people over three weeks, a presidential aide told the BBC – which is not in line with WHO guidelines on clinical trials.
This can be a lengthy process in which a potential drug is tested in four phases, scaling up from a trial on a small number of patients to using it on a population countrywide.
Despite these reservations, several African countries, including Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia, have already ordered COVID-Organics, which is produced from the artemisia plant – the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment – and other Malagasy plants.
Last week, Madagascar’s President, Andry Rajoelina, spoke to an online meeting of African leaders about the tonic.
Following that meeting the AU asked to see more details about COVID-Organics which could be reviewed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
In its statement, the WHO welcomed innovations based on traditional remedies and plants but said they “should be tested for efficacy and adverse side effects”.
“Africans deserve to use medicines tested to the same standards as people in the rest of the world,” it added.
On Monday, more than $8bn (£6.5bn) was pledged to help develop a coronavirus vaccine and fund research into the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Dozens of research projects trying to find a vaccine are currently under way across the world.
Most experts think it could take until mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus first emerged, for a vaccine to become available.
Several African countries acted swiftly in trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus by imposing lockdowns or curfews. But these are now beginning to be lifted as governments try to balance health and economic interests.
The easing of the lockdowns has added urgency to the need to find treatments.
Madagascar has recorded 151 cases of Covid-19 and no deaths, Africa CDC says.
The president imposed a lockdown on the three major cities, but these have now been relaxed, the AFP news agency reports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged people not to put their faith in local untested remedies for coronavirus.
The advice comes at a time when at least three African heads of state have said they are importing large quantities of a herbal tonic which the president of Madagascar claims can cure the virus.
But its efficacy has not been proven by scientific peer reviews, and even Madagascar’s own national medical academy has cast doubt on it.
In a statement, the WHO says it welcomes the use of traditional medicines in the search for potential treatments but it warns that they must first be robustly tested.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina launched a product based on the artemisia plant last month when it had been tested on fewer than 20 people.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged people not to put their faith in local untested remedies for coronavirus.
The advice comes at a time when at least three African heads of state have said they are importing large quantities of a herbal tonic which the president of Madagascar says can cure the virus.
But its efficacy has not been proven by scientific peer review, and even Madagascar’s own national medical academy has cast doubt on it.
In a statement, the WHO says it welcomes the use of traditional medicines in the search for potential treatments but it warns that they must first be robustly tested.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina launched a product based on the artemisia plant last month when it had been tested on fewer than 20 people.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged people not to put their faith in local untested remedies for coronavirus.
The advice comes at a time when at least three African heads of state have said they are importing large quantities of a herbal tonic which the president of Madagascar says can cure the virus.
But its efficacy has not been proven by scientific peer review, and even Madagascar’s own national medical academy has cast doubt on it.
In a statement, the WHO says it welcomes the use of traditional medicines in the search for potential treatments but it warns that they must first be robustly tested.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina launched a product based on the artemisia plant last month when it had been tested on fewer than 20 people.
An “intermediate host” animal passed the coronavirus from wild bats to humans, evidence suggests.
But while the World Health Organization says that the research points to the virus’s “natural origin”, some scientists say it might never be known how the first person was infected.
It remains unclear whether this host animal was sold in the now infamous Wuhan wildlife market in China.
But the wildlife trade is seen as a potential source of this “spillover”.
Researchers say the trade provides a source of species-to-species disease transmission, which caused previous outbreaks and has been blamed for this pandemic.
The WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “We were preparing for something like this as it’s not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.”
The spillover
Infectious disease experts agree that, like most emerging human disease, this virus initially jumped undetected across the species barrier.
Prof Andrew Cunningham, from the Zoological Society of London, explained: “We’ve actually been expecting something like this to happen for a while.
“These diseases are emerging more frequently in recent years as a result of human encroachment into wild habitat and increased contact and use of wild animals by people.”
The virus that causes Covid-19 is far from the first case of such spillover. It joins a murky list of household name viruses – including Ebola, rabies, Sars and Mers – that have originated in wild bat populations. Some of the now extensive body of evidence about bat viruses, and their ability to infect humans, comes from searching for the source of the 2003 outbreak of Sars, a very closely related coronavirus.
It took until 2017 for scientists to discover the “rich gene pool of bat Sars-related coronaviruses” in a single cave in China.
What viruses needed in order to infect a new host is the ability to “unlock” and get inside a cell to replicate. And, like Sars, the ancestral bat coronavirus appears to have held the human cellular key. “In the case of Sars-CoV-2 the key is a virus protein called Spike and the main lock to enter a cell is a receptor called ACE2,” explained Prof David Robertson, a virologist from the University of Glasgow.
“The coronavirus is not only able to fit that ACE2 lock, “it’s actually doing this many times better than Sars-1 does”, he said.
That perfect fit could explain why the coronavirus is so easily transmitted from person to person; its contagiousness has outpaced our efforts to contain it. But bringing the bat virus to the door of a human cell is where the trade in wildlife plays an important role.
Buying, selling, infecting
Most of us have heard that this virus “started” in a wildlife market in Wuhan. But the source of the virus – an animal with this pathogen in its body – was not found in the market.
“The initial cluster of infections was associated with the market – that is circumstantial evidence,” explained Prof James Wood from the University of Cambridge.
“The infection could have come from somewhere else and just, by chance, clustered around people there. But given that it is an animal virus, the market association is highly suggestive.”
Prof Cunningham agreed; wildlife markets, he explained, are hotspots for animal diseases to find new hosts. “Mixing large numbers of species under poor hygienic and welfare conditions, and species that wouldn’t normally come close together gives opportunities for pathogens to jump species to species,” he explained.
Many wildlife viruses in the past have come into humans via a second species – one that is farmed, or hunted and sold on a market.
Prof Woods explained: “The original Sars virus was transmitted into the human population via an epidemic in Palm civets, which were being traded around southern China to be eaten.
“That was very important to know because there was an epidemic in the Palm civets themselves, which had to be controlled in order to stop an ongoing process of spillover into humans.”
In the search for the missing link in this particular transmission chain, scientists have found clues pointing to mink, ferrets and even turtles as a host. Similar viruses were found in the bodies of rare and widely trafficked pangolins, but none of these suspect species has been shown to be involved in this outbreak. What we do know is that our contact with and trading of wild animals puts us – and them – at risk.
“Trying to make sure that we are not bringing wildlife into direct contact with ourselves or with other domestic animals is a very important part of this equation,” said Prof Wood.
Regulating the global trade in wildlife, though, is far from straightforward.”
“There have been various campaigns to ban all trade in animals and all contact with wildlife,” said Prof Wood. “But typically what you do then is penalise some of the poorest people in the world. In many cases, by introducing measures like that you drive trade underground, which makes it far harder to do anything about.”
The WHO has already called for stricter hygiene and safety standards for so-called wet markets in China. But in many cases – such as the trade in bushmeat in Sub-Saharan Africa, which was linked with the Ebola outbreak – markets are informal and therefore very difficult to regulate.
“You can’t do it from an office in London or in Geneva; you have to do that locally on the ground in every country,” added Prof Wood.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove agreed: “It’s very important we work with population and people who are working at the animal/human interface – people who work with wildlife.”
What that will be is a truly global and highly complicated effort. But the Covid-19 outbreak appears to have shown us the cost of the alternative.
Images of thousands of people mingling at political rallies in Burundi on Monday have sparked concerns that coronavirus infections could soar.
Olivier Manzi, a specialist in infectious diseases, says large gatherings of this nature risk accelerating the spread of the virus.
Official World Health Organization advice during the pandemic is for people to observe social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading.
Another is to regularly wash your hands.
Burundi’s electoral commission did provide buckets and soap at the ruling party rally in Gitega and the main opposition’s event in Ngozi province.
But “the numbers of people are too big to get enough water to wash or sanitise every hand,” one participant in told the BBC on Tuesday during the second day of campaigns in Kirundo province.
Burundi’s government has closed its borders to try and stop the spread of the virus, only letting in cargo lorries.
Within the country, people have been advised to wash their hands regularly and avoiding shaking hands when greeting someone. Apart from this, the rest of life goes on as normal.
The country has recorded 14 cases of Covid-19, one of whom died.
Burundi’s government has insisted elections should go ahead on May 20 regardless of the pandemic.
One billion people could become infected with the coronavirus worldwide unless vulnerable countries are given urgent help, an aid group has warned.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said financial and humanitarian aid was needed to help slow the global spread of the virus.
It said “fragile countries” such as Afghanistan and Syria needed “urgent funding” to avoid a major outbreak.
“There remains a small window of time to mount a robust response,” it warned.
There have been more than three million confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide with more than 200,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.
The IRC’s report, which is based on models and data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Imperial College London, estimated there could be between 500 million and one billion infections globally.
It also said there could be more than three million deaths across dozens of conflict-affected and unstable countries.
“These numbers should serve as a wake-up call,” said the head of the IRC, David Miliband.
“The full, devastating and disproportionate weight of this pandemic has yet to be felt in the world’s most fragile and war-torn countries,” he added. “The key now is for donors to urgently put flexible funding behind frontline efforts.
“Governments must work together to remove any impediment to humanitarian assistance.”
The US-based group, which responds to humanitarian crises around the world, said factors such as household size, population density, healthcare capacity and pre-existing conflicts could all increase the risk of major outbreaks developing.
Many countries in the developing world have low official infection rates or death tolls – but the actual numbers are believed to be much higher.
Caroline Seguin, who manages programmes in Yemen for the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said the organisation believed people there were already dying from Covid 19 – just not in hospitals.
“We are convinced that there is local transmission ongoing but the capacity of testing is very, very low,” she told the BBC.
Ms Seguin said Yemen, which was referenced in the IRC report as being particularly vulnerable to coronavirus, said the country had been weakened by recent outbreaks of cholera and measles.
“The health system is collapsing… and for sure the ministry of health is not able to cope with this disease,” she said.
A major issue facing developing or unstable countries is a lack of suitable medical equipment for treating patients with Covid-19.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there are fewer than ten ventilators for every one million people. In Nigeria, that figure is even more stark at 0.8 ventilators per million.
For context, Italy, which has one of the highest death tolls from the virus in the world, had 80 ventilators per one million people at the start of the crisis.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), has stated that there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibodies-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an “immunity passport†or “risk-free certificate,” for the COVID-19.
It stated that as of April 24, 2020, no study had evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 conferred immunity to subsequent infections by the virus in humans or not.
The WHO was reacting to suggestions by some governments that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for the issuance of an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate”.
This certificate they propose, would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming they were protected against re-infection.
However, the WHO in its scientific brief, released on Friday, April 24, said there was currently no evidence that people who had recovered from COVID-19 and had antibodies were protected from a second infection.
Considering the measurement of antibodies specific to COVID-19, the brief said the development of immunity to a pathogen through natural infection was a multi-step process that typically took place over one to two weeks.
This, it noted, could cause people who assumed that they were immune to a second infection – because they had received a positive test result – to ignore public health advice.
The use of such certificates may, therefore, increase the risks of continued transmission of infections.
The WHO said, it had, therefore, published guidance on adjusting public health and social measures for the next phase of the COVID-19 response.
It was still reviewing the evidence on antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, adding that most of these studies showed that people who had recovered from infection had antibodies to the virus.
“However, some of these people had very low levels of neutralizing antibodies in their blood, suggesting that cellular immunity may also be critical for recovery,†it said.
It also explained that the body responded to a viral infection immediately with a non-specific innate response in which macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells slowed the progress of virus and may even prevent it from causing symptoms.
This non-specific response, it said, was followed by an adaptive response where the body made antibodies, which were proteins called immunoglobulins that specifically bound to the virus.
It explained that the body also made T-cells that recognised and eliminated other cells infected with the virus, and termed this as “cellular immunity”.
“This combined adaptive response may clear the virus from the body, and if the response is strong enough, may prevent progression to severe illness or re-infection by the same virus,†it explained.
Laboratory tests that detected antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in people, including rapid immunodiagnostic tests, needed further validation to determine their accuracy and reliability, it explained.
“Inaccurate immunodiagnostic tests may falsely categorise people in two: ways – The first, may falsely label people who have been infected as negative, while those who have not been infected could falsely be labelled as positive, with both errors having serious consequences that would affect control effortsâ€.
These tests also needed to accurately distinguish between past infections from SARS-CoV-2 and those caused by the known set of the six human coronaviruses, four of which caused the common cold and circulated widely.
The other two viruses are responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The WHO said people infected by any one of these viruses may produce antibodies that cross-reacted with antibodies produced in response to infection with SARS-CoV-2.
It said many countries were now testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the population level or in specific groups, such as health workers, close contacts of known cases, or within households.
The United States will not take part in the launching of a global initiative on Friday to speed the development, production, and distribution of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19, a spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva told Reuters.
“There will be no U.S. official participationâ€, he said in an email reply to a query.”
“We look forward to learning more about this initiative in support of international cooperation to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 as soon as possible.â€
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a suspension of funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), where it is the largest donor.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will help launch the global initiative on Friday, the U.N. agency said ahead of the 1300 GMT event.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a yellow fever outbreak in Ethiopia.
The number of suspected cases has increased from three reported on 3 March to 85 on 6 April.
Eight of the suspected cases have tested positive.
Vaccination has since been reactivated but the WHO is concerned about the outbreak in cases with no travel history.
“The risk at national level is assessed as high. The current outbreak in Gurage Zone, SNNP region shows rapid amplification of a yellow fever outbreak in a rural area,†the WHO said.
“In the context of virtually no population immunity, the high number of suspect cases reported over a short time period is of high concern.â€
Ethiopia has been running yellow fever vaccination programmes targeting people living in hot spots.
What is yellow fever?
Caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes
Difficult to diagnose and often confused with other diseases or fevers
Presence of yellow fever antibodies can be detected by blood tests
Most people recover after the first phase of infection that usually involves fever, muscle and back pain, headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting
About 15% of people face a second, more serious phase involving high fever, jaundice, bleeding and deteriorating kidney function
Half of those who enter the “toxic†phase usually die within 10 to 14 days The rest recover
Almost half of all people who have died with coronavirus in Europe were residents in care facilities, the World Health Organisation’s regional director for Europe has said.
Dr Hans Kluge told a press conference on Thursday there was a “deeply concerning picture” emerging regarding those in long-term care.
He said: “According to estimates from countries in the European region, up to half of those who have died from Covid-19 were resident in long-term care facilities. This is an unimaginable human tragedy.”
China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding.
The US, which is the WHO’s biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of “mismanaging” the COVID-19 crisis, drawing ire from Beijing as both countries spar over the deadly virus.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the new donation would be in addition to a previous $20 million committed, and would help “strengthen developing countries’ health systems”.
He added that China’s contribution to the UN agency “reflects the support and trust of the Chinese government and people for the WHO”.
In announcing the funding freeze last week, US President Donald Trump accused the WHO of covering up the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak in China before it spread.
He has also charged the WHO with being “very China-centric” despite Washington’s heavy funding.
According to Trump, US taxpayers provided between $400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO, while “in contrast, China contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less”.
Trump also claimed the outbreak could have been contained with “very little death” had the WHO assessed the situation in China accurately.
The deadly virus, which has claimed more than 181,000 lives worldwide, first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which was locked down in late January to curb the spread.
It continued its global march, however, with cases reported in 193 countries and territories to date, ravaging economies around the globe.
Beijing has urged the US to support WHO-led international action against the pandemic after it halted funding, while observers warned that the US freeze would have consequences for the WHO’s other disease control programmes around the world.
China defends WHO
China has denied Western suggestions that it covered up the extent of the virus outbreak, rejecting claims it has an overly cosy relationship with the WHO as well.
But local authorities did silence doctors who tried to raise the alarm about the virus in Wuhan in December.
An investigation determined that police “inappropriately” punished one of the whistleblowers, Li Wenliang, an eye doctor who later died of the COVID-19 disease.
The WHO, under the leadership of Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been accused by Washington of uncritically accepting China’s early assertions that the virus was not spread between humans, and of wrongly praising Beijing’s “transparency” over the magnitude of the crisis.
The pandemic, combined with the threat of a halt in US funding, marks the biggest challenge to date in Tedros’ near three-year tenure.
“Supporting the WHO at this critical time in the global fight against the epidemic is defending the ideals and principles of multilateralism and upholding the status and authority of the United Nations,” Geng said.
The US is the country worst-hit by the coronavirus, with a death toll of around 46,000.
Numbers in China have dwindled as it begins to cautiously lift virus control mea
sures, although fears remain over a potential resurgence and imported infections from abroad.
A World Health Organization (WHO) driver has been killed in a conflict-riven region of Myanmar while out collecting Covid-19 monitoring samples.
Pyae Sone Win Maung was driving a well-marked United Nations vehicle when it was hit by gunfire in Rakhine State.
The UN says dozens of civilians have been killed as fighting between the military and the armed ethnic Arakan Army group escalated in recent weeks.
The two sides have blamed each other for the WHO driver’s death on Monday.
Both the military in Myanmar (also called Burma) and the Arakan Army deny being involved.
Myanmar’s Maj-Gen Tun Tun Nyi, a military spokesman, said his forces had no reason to attack the UN vehicle.
“They are working for us, for our country,” he told Reuters news agency. “We have the responsibility for that.”
The UN office in Myanmar said it was “deeply saddened” by the 28-year-old driver’s death, near a military checkpoint in Minbya township.
According to a post on Facebook, the marked vehicle was travelling from Sittwe to Yangon bringing Covid-19 surveillance samples “in support of the Ministry of Health and Sports”.
The UN did not say who carried out the shooting, which also left a government employee injured.
The driver’s father, Htay Win Maung, said his heart was “broken”.
“I am trying to calm myself thinking he died in serving his duty at the frontline,” he added. “He went there in the midst of fighting when many people didn’t dare to go.”
Countries including the UK and the US have called for an end to fighting amid the global coronavirus pandemic. More than 80 cases have been reported in Myanmar, along with four deaths.
The Arakan Army, ethnic Buddhists who have escalated their campaign for self-rule in the last two years, declared a month-long ceasefire, but this was rejected by the government.
High levels of air pollution could raise the risk of dying from COVID-19, two studies suggest.
Dr. Maria Neira, of the World Health Organization (WHO), told BBC News countries with high pollution levels, many in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, should ramp up their preparations.
Those with underlying pollution-related conditions have developed severe COVID-19 in countries with high levels.
But medical professionals say it is too early to prove a direct relationship.
“We will be doing a map of most polluted cities based on our database to support national authorities in these regions so that they can prepare their epidemic response plan accordingly,” Dr Neira said.
A US study suggests Covid-19 death rates rise by about 15% in areas with even a small increase in fine-particle pollution levels in the years before the pandemic.
“Patterns in Covid-19 death rates generally mimic patterns in both high population density and high [particulate matter] PM2.5 exposure areas,” the Harvard University report says.
These particles, one-30th the diameter of a human hair, have previously been linked to health issues including respiratory infections and lung cancer.
The Harvard study has not yet been peer-reviewed but Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Chair of epidemiology Air pollution linked to raised COVID-19 death riskProf Annette Peters told BBC News its findings “are in line with earlier reports on hospitalization and mortality due to pneumonia”.
“It is one of the first studies substantiating our suspicion and the hypothesis that severity of the COVID-19 infection may be augmented by particulate matter air pollution,” she said.
Report author Prof Francesca Dominici said: “We hope it will help stop the air quality from getting worse, particularly when we are hearing about authorities trying to relax pollution rules amid this pandemic.”
Another study, at the University of Siena, in Italy, and Arhus University, in Denmark, suggests a possible link between high levels of air pollution and COVID-19 deaths in northern Italy.
The Lombardy and Emilia Romagna regions had death rates of about 12%, compared with 4.5% in the rest of Italy.
The study, published in Science Direct, says: “The high level of pollution in northern Italy should be considered an additional co-factor of the high level of lethality recorded in that area.”
Population, age, differing health systems, and a variation in prevention policies across regions should also be taken into account.
There is no evidence to support the belief that people who have recovered from coronavirus will not catch it again, the World Health Organisation has said.
WHO chiefs have warned world leaders against investing too heavily in the tests to show if a person has already had the virus because they do not guarantee immunity.
The UK Government has bought 3.5million serology tests, measuring antibodies in blood plasma, but they are not definitive in proving if someone has had the virus.
Many tests being developed are pinprick blood checks similar to widely used instant HIV tests and measure raised levels of the antibodies the body uses to fight the virus.
It comes as a top health official said the coronavirus ‘immunity passports’ plan is doomed to fail after only 10 percent of Italians developed COVID-19 antibodies.
And a study by scientists at Stanford University in the US found as much as 4 percent of California’s population may have already been infected with the virus.
Meanwhile, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said it has developed an antibody test that it hopes to roll out in May to detect people previously infected with COVID-19, even those who displayed no symptoms.
Britain and many countries had hoped antibody tests would allow those who can prove they have had the virus and therefore thought to be immune to return to work and stabilise the economy.
But Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies programme, said there was limited evidence that coronavirus survivors were guaranteed future immunity to the disease.
This means those who have already had the virus could be at risk of being reinfected.
He added: ‘Nobody is sure whether someone with antibodies is fully protected against having the disease or being exposed again.
‘Plus some of the tests have issues with sensitivity they may give a false-negative result.’
Dr Ryan also warned that the antibody tests raised ethical questions.
‘There are serious ethical issues around the use of such an approach and we need to address it very carefully, we also need to look at the length of protection that antibodies might give,’ he said.
‘You might have someone who believes they are seropositive (have been infected) and protected in a situation where they may be exposed and in fact, they are susceptible to the disease.’
Dr Ryan said the tests had to be used as part of coherent public health policy.
His colleague Dr Maria van Kerkhove said: ‘There are a lot of countries that are suggesting using rapid diagnostic serological tests to be able to capture what they think will be a measure of immunity.
‘Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection.’
She added: ‘These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of seroprevalence – that level of antibodies but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies means that they are immune.’
Dr van Kerkhove said it was ‘a good thing’ that so many tests are being developed.
But she cautioned: ‘We need to ensure that they are validated so that we know what they say they attempt to measure they are actually measuring.’
The WHO is due to issue updated guidance on the issue this weekend.
The Government has already invested in 3.5million tests but has not yet found one reliable enough to roll out.
It was thought that the tests would allow ministers to aim for ‘herd immunity’, in which most Britons are resistant to COVID-19.
US President Donald Trump has been heavily criticised for halting funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Philanthropist Bill Gates, a major funder of the WHO, said it was “as dangerous as it sounds”.
President Trump said on Tuesday that the body had “failed in its basic duty” in its response to coronavirus.
The head of the WHO said it was reviewing the cuts’ impact “to ensure our work continues uninterrupted”.
“We regret the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in the funding to the WHO,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference, adding that the US has been “a long-standing and generous friend… and we hope it will continue to be so”.
Earlier on Twitter he said it was the agency’s “singular focus” was to stop the outbreak.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said it was “not the time” to cut funds to the WHO, which “is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against Covid-19”.
Mr Trump has accused the WHO of making deadly mistakes and overly trusting China.
“I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” Mr Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
A White House statement on Wednesday said the agency had “failed” the US people.
“The American people deserve better from the WHO, and no more funding will be provided until its mismanagement, cover-ups and failures can be investigated,” it read.
Mr Trump has been under fire for his own handling of the pandemic. He has sought to deflect persistent criticism that he acted too slowly to stop the virus’s spread by pointing to his decision in late January to place restrictions on travel from China.
He has accused the WHO of having “criticised” that decision, an apparent reference to general advice from the agency against travel restrictions.
The US is the global health body’s largest single funder and gave it more than $400m in 2019. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is funding Covid-19 treatment and vaccine research, is the second-largest funder.
A decision on whether the US resumes funding will be made after the review, which Mr Trump said would last 60 to 90 days.
UK has ‘no plans’ to stop funding WHO The UK has “no plans” to follow the US and stop funding the World Health Organization.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the WHO had “an important role to play in leading the global health response” adding that the UK had contributed £75m ($93m) towards efforts to stop the coronavirus.
The spokesman did not comment on US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt funding to the WHO.
On the issue of UK care workers, Downing Street said 3,300 had been invited to be tested for Covid-19, although it was not known how many had been.
Rules would also be changed “straight away†so that patients being discharged from hospital into care homes would be tested for coronavirus before they left.
The spokesman said “extensive work” was being done on an exit strategy from lockdown restrictions.
But, he said that, for now, the focus needed to be on getting the public to stay at home while capacity is built in the NHS.
US President Donald Trump has said he has instructed his administration to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said the WHO had “failed in its basic duty” in its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
He accused the UN body of mismanaging and covering up the spread of the virus after it emerged in China, and said it must be held accountable.
Mr Trump has previously accused the WHO of being biased towards China.
The US president has himself come under criticism at home over his handling of the outbreak.
“I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” Mr Trump told a news conference at the White House.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable,” he added.
America is the WHO’s biggest single funder, providing $400m (£316m) last year – just under 15% of its total budget.
“With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” the president said.
The US is the worst-affected country in the coronavirus pandemic with 592,743 cases and 25,239 deaths.
President Trump accused the WHO of having failed to adequately assess the outbreak when it first emerged in the city of Wuhan.
“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” he told reporters.
“This would have saved thousands of lives and avoided worldwide economic damage. Instead, the WHO willingly took China’s assurances to face value… and defended the actions of the Chinese government.”
Correspondents have pointed out, however, that Mr Trump himself praised China’s response to the outbreak and downplayed the danger of the virus at home.
What about the lockdowns?
Speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House, President Trump also said that plans to reopen the country were “close to being finalised”.
“I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly and I will be authorising each individual governor of each individual state to implement a plan,” he said.
“The federal government will be watching them closely. We will hold governors accountable, but will be working with them to make sure it goes really well.”
Mr Trump caused a furore on Monday when he said that he, and not state governors, had the authority to lift lockdowns and restart the economy.
Experts agree it is the governors who are responsible for policing their states under US law.
Earlier on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo accused President Trump of “spoiling for a fight”.
New York state has the most cases, with almost 190,000 cases and over 10,000 deaths. However, there are signs of improvement with the number of people there needing hospital treatment falling for the first time.
A first delivery of medical supplies from the World Health Organization (WHO) has landed in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The World Food Programme (WFP) tweeted a clip of unloading.
The cargo includes one million masks, goggles, gloves, gowns and other protective gear for health workers, as well as ventilators for patients, says WFP.
It will be distributed to Djibouti, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and Tanzania and then on from those hubs to “as many countries as possible”, Reuters news agency quotes WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs as saying.
The WHO said its emergency committee would meet Tuesday to discuss whether the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo still constitutes an international health emergency, after fresh cases were detected.
The meeting comes a day after DR Congo had been expected to announce that the outbreak in the east of the country that began in August 2018 was over.
The epidemic has killed 2,276 people to date. For it to be declared over, there have to be no new cases reported for 42 days—double the incubation period.
But as the World Health Organization’s emergency committee met last Friday to determine whether its declaration of a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC, could be lifted, a new case was reported.
“We now have three cases, two people who have died, one person who is alive,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters in a virtual briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
She said that all of the contacts of those cases had been traced and vaccinated and were being followed closely.
DR Congo health authorities announced Friday that a 26-year-old man was listed as having died from the disease, and a young girl who was being treated in the same health centre passed away on Sunday.
Both died in the city of Beni, epicentre of the outbreak.
Due to the shifting situation, the WHO decided to reconvene its emergency committee to again evaluate whether or not the outbreak still constitutes an international health emergency, Harris said.
It was scheduled to announce its decision later Tuesday.
The DR Congo has meanwhile started a new 42-day countdown to declare an end to its 10th epidemic of the deadly haemorrhagic fever disease.
There are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally, with three candidates already being tested in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, as drugmakers race to find a cure for the deadly pathogen.
The furthest along in the clinical process is an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is in phase 2.
The other two being tested in humans are treatments developed separately by U.S. drugmakers Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to a WHO document.
Progress is occurring at unprecedented speed in developing vaccines as the infectious pathogen looks unlikely to be stamped out through containment measures alone. The drug industry is hoping to compress the time it takes to get a vaccine to market — usually about 10 to 15 years — to within the next year.
Drugmakers big and small have jumped in to try to develop a vaccine, which would be the most effective way to contain the virus. Pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi have vaccine candidates in the preclinical stages, according to the WHO document.
CanSino said last month it received Chinese regulatory approval to start human trials of its vaccine. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna — which has never put out a product — received regulatory approval to move quickly to human trials in March, skipping the years of animal trials that are the norm in developing vaccines. Inovio began its human trials last week.
Few days before the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo was to be declared over, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that a new case has been confirmed.
Over 3,400 people have been infected and 2,200 have died since the outbreak was announced in DR Congo nearly two years away.
Lifting corona virus lock down measures too early could spark a “deadly resurgence” in infections, the World Health Organization chief has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries should be cautious about easing restrictions, even as some struggle with the economic impact.
Europe’s worst hit countries, Spain and Italy, are both relaxing some measures, while their lockdowns continue.
Globally there are 1.6 million cases of coronavirus and 101,000 deaths.
Speaking at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros said there had been a “welcome slowing” of the epidemics in some European countries.
He said the WHO was working with governments to form strategies for easing restrictions, but that this should not be done too soon.
“Lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to a deadly resurgence,” he said.
“The way down can be as dangerous as the way up if not managed properly.”
How are Spain and Italy easing curbs?
The government in Spain is preparing to allow some non-essential workers in sectors including construction and factory production to return to their jobs on Monday.
Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll in 17 days on Friday, with 605 people dying. According to the latest figures, Spain has now registered 15,843 deaths related to the virus.
However, the government has urged people to continue to uphold social distancing rules over the Easter long weekend.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the national lockdown until 3 May, warning that the gains made so far should not be lost.
However, a small proportion of businesses that have been shut since 12 March will be permitted to reopen on Tuesday.
Mr Conte specifically mentioned bookshops and children’s clothing shops, but media reports suggest laundrettes and other services may also be included.
A row has erupted after the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) accused Taiwan’s leaders of spearheading personal attacks on him.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had been subjected to racist comments and death threats for months.
But President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan opposed any form of discrimination and invited Dr Tedros to visit the island.
Taiwan said it had been denied access to vital information as the coronavirus spread. The WHO rejects this.
Taiwan is excluded from the WHO, the United Nations health agency, because of China’s objections to its membership.
The Chinese Communist Party regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and claims the right to take it by force if necessary.
The WHO has also been criticised by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw US funding to the agency.
What is being said? Dr Tedros said he had been at the receiving end of racist comments for the past two to three months.
“Giving me names, black or negro,” he said. “I’m proud of being black, or proud of being negro.”
He then said he had received death threats, adding: “I don’t give a damn.”
The WHO chief said the abuse had originated from Taiwan, “and the foreign ministry didn’t disassociate” itself from it.
But Ms Tsai said Taiwan was opposed to discrimination.
“For years, we have been excluded from international organisations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.
“If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan to see Taiwan’s efforts to fight Covid-19 for himself, he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment.”
Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the comments were “irresponsible” and the accusations “imaginary”. The ministry said it was seeking an apology for “slander”, AFP news agency reported.
Correspondents say Taiwan has been proud of its measures to contain the virus, with just 380 cases and five deaths so far.
Last month, the WHO said it was monitoring the progress of the virus in Taiwan and learning lessons from its efforts.
What about the row with the US?
The UN agency has come under continued fire from Mr Trump, who accuses the WHO of being “very China-centric” and has threatened to end funding.
Speaking on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO’s work and called for an end to the politicization of Covid-19.
The disease first emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has just ended an 11-week lockdown. An advisor to the WHO chief earlier said their close work with China had been “absolutely essential” in understanding the disease in its early stages.
Mr Trump’s attacks on the WHO come in the context of criticism of his own administration’s handling of the pandemic, especially early problems with US testing.
Growing numbers of fake medicines linked to coronavirus are on sale in developing countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
A BBC News investigation found fake drugs for sale in Africa, with counterfeiters exploiting growing gaps in the market.
The WHO said taking these drugs could have “serious side effects”.
One expert warned of “a parallel pandemic, of substandard and falsified products”.
Around the world, people are stockpiling basic medicines. However, with the world’s two largest producers of medical supplies – China and India – in lockdown, demand now outstrips the supply and the circulation of dangerous counterfeit drugs is soaring.
In the same week the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a pandemic last month, Operation Pangea, Interpol’s global pharmaceutical crime fighting unit, made 121 arrests across 90 countries in just seven days, resulting in the seizure of dangerous pharmaceuticals worth over $14m (£11m).
From Malaysia to Mozambique, police officers confiscated tens of thousands of counterfeit face masks and fake medicines, many of which claimed to be able to cure coronavirus.
“The illicit trade in such counterfeit medical items during a public health crisis, shows a total disregard for people’s lives,” said Interpol’s Secretary General Jurgen Stock.
According to the WHO, the broader falsified medicines trade, which includes medicines which may be contaminated, contain the wrong or no active ingredient, or may be out-of-date, is worth more than $30bn in low and middle-income countries.
“Best case scenario they [fake medicines] probably won’t treat the disease for which they were intended”, said Pernette Bourdillion Esteve, from the WHO team dealing with falsified medical products.
“But worst-case scenario they’ll actively cause harm, because they might be contaminated with something toxic.”
The supply chain
The global pharmaceutical industry is worth more than $1 trillion. Vast supply chains stretch all the way from key manufacturers in places such as China and India, to packaging warehouses in Europe, South America or Asia, to distributors sending medicines to every country in the world.
There is “probably nothing more globalized than medicine,” said Esteve. However, as the world goes into lockdown, the supply chain has already begun to uncouple.
Several pharmaceutical companies in India told the BBC they are now operating at 50-60% of their normal capacity. As Indian companies supply 20% of all basic medicines to Africa, nations there are being disproportionately affected.
Ephraim Phiri, a pharmacist in Zambia’s capital Lusaka, said he was already feeling the strain.
“Medicines are already running out and we are not replenishing them. There is nothing we can do. It’s been really hard to get supplies… especially essential medicines like antibiotics and antimalarials.”
Producers and suppliers are also struggling as the raw ingredients to manufacture tablets are now so expensive, some companies can simply not afford to keep going.
One producer in Pakistan said he used to buy the raw ingredients for an antimalarial drug called hydrochloroquine for about $100 a kilo. But today, the cost has increased to $1,150 a kilo.
With an increasing number of countries going into lockdown, it’s not only the reduction in production that’s problematic, it’s also the increase in demand, as people around the world anxiously stockpile basic medicines.
It’s this unstable combination of reduced supply and increased demand that has led the WHO to warn of a dangerous spike in the production and sales of fake drugs.
“When the supply does not meet the demand,” said Esteve, from the WHO, “it creates an environment where poorer quality or fake medicines will try to meet that demand.”
Fake medicine
Speaking to pharmacists and drug companies around the world, the global supply of antimalarials is now under threat.
Ever since US President Donald Trump began referring to the potential of chloroquine and a related derivative, hydroxychloroquine, in White House briefings, there has been a global surge in the demand for these drugs, which are normally used to tackle malaria.
Coronavirus and chloroquine: Is there evidence it works?
The WHO has repeatedly said there is no definitive evidence that chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine can be used against the virus that causes COVID-19. However, at a recent news conference, whilst referring to these antimalarials, President Trump said: “What do you have to lose? Take it.”
As the demand has soared, the BBC has discovered large quantities of fake chloroquine in circulation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The WHO has also found fake medicines for sale in Niger.
The antimalarial chloroquine is normally sold for about $40 for a pot of 1,000 tablets. But pharmacists in the DRC were found to be selling them for up to $250.
The medicine being sold was allegedly manufactured in Belgium, by “Brown and Burk Pharmaceutical limited”. However, Brown and Burk, a pharmaceutical company registered in the UK, said they had “nothing to do with this medicine. We don’t manufacture this drug, it’s fake.”
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Professor Paul Newton, an expert in fake medicines at the University of Oxford, warned the circulation of fake and dangerous medicines would only increase unless governments around the world present a united front.
“We risk a parallel pandemic, of substandard and falsified products unless we all ensure that there is a global co-ordinated plan for co-ordinated production, equitable distribution and the surveillance of the quality of the tests, medicines and vaccines. Otherwise the benefits of modern medicine… will be lost.”
Taiwan demanded an apology from the World Health Organization chief on Thursday after he accused the island’s government of leading personal attacks against him and his agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity to fight the disease on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump criticised the global health body and threatened to cut its funding.
During the press conference he spoke of the abuse — including racial slurs — he had been subjected to since the public health crisis began.
Tedros largely avoided mentioning Trump by name but he did single out the government in Taipei, which has been frozen out of the WHO after political pressure from Beijing.
“Three months ago, this attack came from Taiwan,” he told reporters in Geneva.
“They didn’t disassociate themselves. They even started criticising me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn’t care,” Tedros said.
The comments sparked anger in Taiwan, which described Tedros’ comments as “baseless”.
“Our country has never encouraged the public to launch personal attacks against him or made any racially discriminatory comments,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters on Thursday.
“Our government demands an immediate clarification and an apology from director-general Tedros over such extremely irresponsible act of slander,” she added.
– Worsening relations –
Relations between the WHO and Taiwan have worsened considerably since the pandemic began, even as health experts have lauded Taiwan for its response to the virus.
It has just 379 confirmed COVID-19 patients and five deaths despite its close proximity and trade links with China, where the pandemic began.
Taiwan used to be able to obtain observer status at the WHO’s annual assembly.
But diplomatic pressure from Beijing in recent years has pushed Taiwan out of major international bodies including the WHO and ICAO — the UN’s aviation agency.
China’s Communist Party regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has vowed to one day seize the island — by force if necessary.
Beijing’s efforts to isolate the island have ramped up since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 because does not view the island as part of a “one China”.
Critics of Tedros have accused the WHO under his leadership of being too close to Beijing and complimentary of China’s response to the coronavirus.
In a tweet threatening to cut funding, Trump called the organisation “very China centric”.
Tedros has denied being partisan or holding any geopolitical bias.
“Please quarantine COVID politics. That’s what we want. We don’t care about personal attacks,” he said.
Taiwan demanded an apology from the World Health Organization chief on Thursday after he accused the island’s government of leading personal attacks against him and his agency’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity to fight the disease on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump criticised the global health body and threatened to cut its funding.
During the press conference he spoke of the abuse — including racial slurs — he had been subjected to since the public health crisis began.
Tedros largely avoided mentioning Trump by name but he did single out the government in Taipei, which has been frozen out of the WHO after political pressure from Beijing.
“Three months ago, this attack came from Taiwan,” he told reporters in Geneva.
“They didn’t disassociate themselves. They even started criticising me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn’t care,” Tedros said.
The comments sparked anger in Taiwan, which described Tedros’ comments as “baseless”.
“Our country has never encouraged the public to launch personal attacks against him or made any racially discriminatory comments,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters on Thursday.
“Our government demands an immediate clarification and an apology from director-general Tedros over such extremely irresponsible act of slander,” she added.
– Worsening relations –
Relations between the WHO and Taiwan have worsened considerably since the pandemic began, even as health experts have lauded Taiwan for its response to the virus.
It has just 379 confirmed COVID-19 patients and five deaths despite its close proximity and trade links with China, where the pandemic began.
Taiwan used to be able to obtain observer status at the WHO’s annual assembly.
But diplomatic pressure from Beijing in recent years has pushed Taiwan out of major international bodies including the WHO and ICAO — the UN’s aviation agency.
China’s Communist Party regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has vowed to one day seize the island — by force if necessary.
Beijing’s efforts to isolate the island have ramped up since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 because does not view the island as part of a “one China”.
Critics of Tedros have accused the WHO under his leadership of being too close to Beijing and complimentary of China’s response to the coronavirus.
In a tweet threatening to cut funding, Trump called the organisation “very China centric”.
Tedros has denied being partisan or holding any geopolitical bias.
“Please quarantine COVID politics. That’s what we want. We don’t care about personal attacks,” he said.
This question is to be assessed by a panel of advisers to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The group will weigh up research on whether the virus can be projected further than previously thought; a study in the US suggests coughs can reach 6m and sneezes up to 8m.
The panel’s chair, Prof David Heymann, told BBC News that the new research may lead to a shift in advice about masks.
The former director at the WHO explained: “The WHO is opening up its discussion again looking at the new evidence to see whether or not there should be a change in the way it’s recommending masks should be used.”
What is the current advice?
The WHO recommends keeping a distance of at least 1m from anyone coughing or sneezing to avoid the risk of infection.
It says people who are sick and show symptoms should wear masks.
But it advises that healthy people only need to wear them if they are caring for others suspected of being infected or if they themselves are coughing or sneezing.
It emphasises that masks are only effective if combined with frequent hand-washing and used and disposed of properly.
The UK, along with other countries including the US, advises that social distancing should mean staying at least 2m apart.
This advice is based on evidence showing that viruses can only be transmitted while carried within drops of liquid.
The understanding is that most of those drops will either evaporate or fall to the ground near to the person who released them.
So what does the new research say?
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US, used high-speed cameras and other sensors to assess precisely what happens after a cough or sneeze.
They found that an exhalation generates a small fast-moving cloud of gas that can contain droplets of liquid of varying sizes – and that the smallest of these can be carried in the cloud over long distances.
The study – conducted in laboratory conditions – found that coughs can project liquid up to 6m away and that sneezes, which involve much higher speeds, can reach up to 8m away.
What are the implications?
The scientist who led the study, Prof Lydia Bourouiba of MIT, told me that she is concerned about the current concept of “safe distances”.
“What we exhale, cough or sneeze is a gas cloud that has high momentum that can go far, traps the drops of all sizes in it and carries them through the room,” she said.
“So having this false idea of safety at one to two meters, that somehow drops will just fall to the ground at that distance is not based on what we have quantified, measured and visualized directly.”
Does this change the advice about masks?
Prof Bourouiba’s view is that in certain situations, especially indoors in poorly ventilated rooms, wearing masks would reduce the risks.
For example, when facing someone who’s infected, masks could help divert the flow of their breath and its load of virus away from your mouth.
“Flimsy masks are not going to protect from inhaling the smallest particulates in the air because they do not provide filtration,” Prof Bourouiba said.
“But they would potentially divert the cloud that is being emitted with high momentum to the side instead of forward.”
What do the WHO advisers think?
According to Prof Heymann, the new research from MIT and other institutions will be evaluated because it suggests that droplets from coughs and sneezes could be projected further than originally thought.
He said that if the evidence is supported, then “it might be that wearing a mask is equally as effective or more effective than distancing.”
But he adds a warning that masks need to be worn properly, with a seal over the nose. If they become moist, Prof Heymann explained, then particles can pass through. People must remove them carefully to avoid their hands becoming contaminated.
He adds that masks need to be worn consistently.
“It’s not on to wear a mask and then decide to take it off to smoke a cigarette or eat a meal – it must be worn full time,” he said.
The panel, known as the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards, is due to hold its next virtual meeting in the next few days.
A spokesperson for Public Health England said there was little evidence of widespread benefit from wearing masks outside clinical settings.
“Facemasks must be worn correctly, changed frequently, removed properly, disposed of safely and used in combination with good universal hygiene behaviour in order for them to be effective.
“Research also shows that compliance with these recommended behaviours reduces over time when wearing facemasks for prolonged periods.”
The UN’s health agency has faced criticism in the past for overreacting and for moving too slowly in fighting epidemics, but it has rarely faced as much scrutiny as with the Coronavirus pandemic.
The World Health Organization was deemed too alarmist when it faced the H1N1 epidemic in 2009 but five years later it was accused of dragging its feet in declaring an emergency over the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, which would go on to kill more than 11,000 people.
After that debacle, the WHO reformed and created a rapid response unit that has since helped to tackle two Ebola outbreaks in Democratic Republic of Congo.
And yet, the organisation is once again under fire, with critics saying it did not react quickly or strongly enough to the new Coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, late last year.
The agency has been accused of delaying sounding the alarm for fear of offending Beijing, for waiting too long to declare the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic and for failing to coordinate a coherent international response.
Also, a consensus appears to be emerging on the need to close down public spaces to limit the spread but the WHO has given little guidance on these measures.
“WHO remains surprisingly silent and absent in all of these pragmatic questions,” Antoine Flahault, head of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, wrote in The Lancet medical review, asking: “Is there any orchestra conductor?”
‘Enemy of humanity’
However, other commentators have praised WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his team for giving sound guidance, instead criticising countries for failing to heed the advice.
Devi Sridhar, a professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said the WHO’s reaction was “hard to fault”, adding that countries like South Korea that followed the advice to test, trace and contain have done better than others.
One of the central planks of criticism is that the WHO waited until March 11, when nearly 120,000 cases had already been registered, to declare the outbreak a pandemic — a move that truly hit the accelerator on global efforts to rein in the virus.
By that time, the virus, dubbed an “enemy of humanity” by Tedros, had already taken hold in Europe, which soon overtook Asia as the epicentre of the outbreak.
With a dearth of tests, shortages of protective gear for health workers and vital medical equipment like ventilators, health systems even in wealthy nations have been pushed to the breaking point.
In a bid to halt the spread of a pandemic that has already claimed more than 18,000 lives, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide are now largely confined to their homes and economies have largely ground to a halt, threatening a global recession.
China conundrum
Despite the chaos, and evidence that Chinese officials hid the crisis for weeks and stifled doctors trying to sound the alarm, the WHO has praised Beijing for its early response.
Joseph Amon, a professor of global health at Drexel University in the United States, told AFP it was a “clear mistake and set an early tone by WHO that the epidemic was perhaps not as severe and that the initial response was adequate”.
China told the WHO about an unknown form of pneumonia circulating in Wuhan on December 31, 2019.
Experts say that if the world had learnt of the problem weeks earlier it could probably have been reined in.
“If we had known about it then, then that could have made a huge difference,” Roland Kao, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP.
But while experts agree there was certainly much to criticise in China’s initial response, many say the WHO was right to highlight what the country got right, including quickly sharing the genetic sequencing of the virus and taking dramatic lockdown measures to slow the spread.
“To alienate China early in the process by pointing out mistakes would have been a mistake,” Ann Lindstrand, in charge of WHO’s expanded immunisation programme, told AFP, saying Beijing’s cooperation was crucial.
“Tedros did the right thing.”
Tedros himself has dismissed claims that he and WHO have bowed to Chinese pressure, stressing the collaborative relationship the agency has with its members.
Some say the COVID-19 pandemic has actually revealed the opposite problem — states need to feel pressure from the WHO but the agency simply does not have the power.
“Dr Tedros and WHO are working hard to conduct the orchestra, but the players are not cooperating,” said Suerie Moon, the co-director of the Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre.
The World Health Organization says that at least 20 coronavirus vaccines are currently in development in the global race for a cure.
The first human trial, by the Boston-based biotech firm Moderna, is already underway.
“Going from not even knowing that this virus was out there, which we then identified it as being a cause of infection in China in January, to have any vaccine that we can actually initiate a clinical trial in about two months is unprecedented,” said Dr Lisa Jackson, the Kaiser Permanente investigator leading the first human trial.
This extraordinary speed is thanks in large part to early Chinese efforts to sequence the genetic material of the virus that caused COVID-19.
China shared that information in early January, allowing researchers around the world to replicate the virus and study how it invades human cells and infects people.
Jennifer Haller was the first person to be injected with the trial vaccine. “Everybody is feeling so helpless right now,†Haller said. “And I realised that there was something that I could do to help, and I’m excited to be here.â€
Experts say it could still take about 18 months for any potential vaccine to become available to the general public.
Last week, China also approved the start of clinical trials on a vaccine.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the public to be aware of some criminals disguising themselves as the WHO, to steal money and sensitive information.
It said these criminals often use emails, websites, phone calls, text and fax messages for scams and urged people to clarify the legitimacy of such communications by contacting WHO directly.
It advised that any contact by a person or organisation that appears to be from the WHO must be verified for their authenticity before responding.
In a publication on its website, the WHO said it would never ask for username or password to access safety information and advised the public against emailing attachments they did not ask for.
It also said the WHO would never ask anyone to visit a link outside of www.who.int, or charge money to apply for a job, register for a conference, or reserve a hotel, and neither would it conduct lotteries or offer grants, prizes, certificate or funding through emails.
It said the only call for donations WHO has issued, was the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and that any other appeal for funding or donations that appeared to be from WHO was a scam.
The WHO is aware of suspicious email messages attempting to take advantage of the COVD-19 emergency, a fraudulent action known as “Phishing”, by which these criminals ask people to give out sensitive information such as usernames or passwords, or request users to click a malicious link or open an attachment.
In preventing phishing, individuals are advised to verify if the sender had an email address such as ‘person@who.int’ and if there was anything other than ‘who.int’ after the ‘@’ symbol, then the sender was not from WHO.
For example the WHO does not send email from addresses ending in ‘@who.com’, ‘@who.org’, or ‘@who-safety.org’.
It urged users to make sure that the link stated with ‘https://www.who.int’, or to better still, navigate to the WHO website directly, by typing ‘https://www.who.int’ into their browser.
The WHO further advised people to be careful when providing personal information, not to rush or feel under pressure as cyber criminals often would use emergencies such as the COVID-19, to get people to make decisions quickly.
It urged all who have given such sensitive information to criminals, to immediately change their credentials on each site where they had used them and quickly report it to the WHO.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the public to be aware of some criminals disguising themselves as the WHO, to steal money and sensitive information.
It said these criminals often use emails, websites, phone calls, text and fax messages for scams and urged people to clarify the legitimacy of such communications by contacting WHO directly.
It advised that any contact by a person or organisation that appears to be from the WHO must be verified for their authenticity before responding.
In a publication on its website, the WHO said it would never ask for username or password to access safety information and advised the public against emailing attachments they did not ask for.
It also said the WHO would never ask anyone to visit a link outside of www.who.int, or charge money to apply for a job, register for a conference, or reserve a hotel, and neither would it conduct lotteries or offer grants, prizes, certificate or funding through emails.
It said the only call for donations WHO has issued, was the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and that any other appeal for funding or donations that appeared to be from WHO was a scam.
The WHO is aware of suspicious email messages attempting to take advantage of the COVD-19 emergency, a fraudulent action known as “Phishing”, by which these criminals ask people to give out sensitive information such as usernames or passwords, or request users to click a malicious link or open an attachment.
In preventing phishing, individuals are advised to verify if the sender had an email address such as ‘person@who.int’ and if there was anything other than ‘who.int’ after the ‘@’ symbol, then the sender was not from WHO.
For example the WHO does not send email from addresses ending in ‘@who.com’, ‘@who.org’, or ‘@who-safety.org’.
It urged users to make sure that the link stated with ‘https://www.who.int’, or to better still, navigate to the WHO website directly, by typing ‘https://www.who.int’ into their browser.
The WHO further advised people to be careful when providing personal information, not to rush or feel under pressure as cyber criminals often would use emergencies such as the COVID-19, to get people to make decisions quickly.
It urged all who have given such sensitive information to criminals, to immediately change their credentials on each site where they had used them and quickly report it to the WHO.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has exposed the falseness in popular beliefs held by some people about the dreaded coronavirus disease.
Below are some of the 14 common myths about the disease which has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people around the globe as at Thursday, March 19, and the facts presented by the WHO to discount them.
COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates
From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather.
Regardless of climate, adopt protective measures if you live in, or travel to an area reporting COVID-19.
The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands.
By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that could occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.
cold weather and snow CANNOT kill the new coronavirus.
There is no reason to believe that cold weather can kill the new coronavirus or other diseases.
The normal human body temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the external temperature or weather.
The most effective way to protect yourself against the new coronavirus is by frequently cleaning your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or washing them with soap and water.
Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease
Taking a hot bath will not prevent you from catching COVID-19. Your normal body temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower.
Actually, taking a hot bath with extremely hot water can be harmful, as it can burn you. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands.
By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that coud occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.
ody temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower.
Actually, taking a hot bath with extremely hot water can be harmful, as it can burn you. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands.
By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that coud occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.
The new coronavirus CANNOT be transmitted through mosquito bites.
To date there has been no information nor evidence to suggest that the new coronavirus could be transmitted by mosquitoes.
The new coronavirus is a respiratory virus which spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.
To protect yourself, clean your hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Also, avoid close contact with anyone who is coughing and sneezing.
Are hand dryers effective in killing the new coronavirus?
No. Hand dryers are not effective in killing the 2019-nCoV.
To protect yourself against the new coronavirus, you should frequently clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.
Once your hands are cleaned, you should dry them thoroughly by using paper towels or a warm air dryer.
Can an ultraviolet disinfection lamp kill the new coronavirus?
UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.
How effective are thermal scanners in detecting people infected with the new coronavirus?
Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus.
However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever.
This is because it takes between 2 and 10 days before people who are infected become sick and develop a fever.
Can spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body kill the new coronavirus?
No. Spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body will not kill viruses that have already entered your body.
Spraying such substances can be harmful to clothes or mucous membranes (i.e. eyes, mouth).
Be aware that both alcohol and chlorine can be useful to disinfect surfaces, but they need to be used under appropriate recommendations.
Do vaccines against pneumonia protect you against the new coronavirus?
No. Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus.
The virus is so new and different that it needs its own vaccine. Researchers are trying to develop a vaccine against 2019-nCoV, and WHO is supporting their efforts.
Although these vaccines are not effective against 2019-nCoV, vaccination against respiratory illnesses is highly recommended to protect your health.
Can regularly rinsing your nose with saline help prevent infection with the new coronavirus?
No. There is no evidence that regularly rinsing the nose with saline has protected people from infection with the new coronavirus.
There is some limited evidence that regularly rinsing nose with saline can help people recover more quickly from the common cold.
However, regularly rinsing the nose has not been shown to prevent respiratory infections.
Can eating garlic help prevent infection with the new coronavirus?
Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties.
However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.
Does the new coronavirus affect older people, or are younger people also susceptible?
People of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.
WHO advises people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene.
Are antibiotics effective in preventing and treating the new coronavirus?
No, antibiotics do not work against viruses, only bacteria.
The new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a virus and, therefore, antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment.
However, if you are hospitalized for the 2019-nCoV, you may receive antibiotics because bacterial co-infection is possible.
Are there any specific medicines to prevent or treat the new coronavirus?
To date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
However, those infected with the virus should receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms, and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care.
Some specific treatments are under investigation, and will be tested through clinical trials. WHO is helping to accelerate research and development efforts with a range or partners.
Africa must “wake up” to the coronavirus threat and prepare for the worst, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The continent should learn from how the spread of virus has sped up elsewhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He warned that while Africa’s confirmed cases were currently low – around 640 – there was no reason for complacency.
“Africa should wake up, my continent should wake up,” said the Ethiopian, the WHO’s first African head.
Health experts warn that strained public health systems in Africa could become quickly overwhelmed if the virus takes hold, especially in overcrowded urban areas.
“WHO’s recommendation is actually mass gatherings should be avoided and we should do all we can to cut it from the bud, expecting that the worst could happen,” Mr Tedros told a news conference in Geneva, where the WHO is based.
In Africa, 16 people have died from Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus: six in Egypt, six in Algeria, two in Morocco, one in Sudan and one in Burkina Faso.
In South Africa, which has 116 cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of disaster, restricting travel, closing schools, banning mass gatherings and ordering bars to close or limit numbers to 50.
The country has also banned all cruise ships from its ports. This comes despite tests coming back negative for six people on board a cruise ship, which had been put under quarantine. All 1,700 people are now free to leave the ship and return home.
Anyone breaking South Africa’s coronavirus measures will be subject to a fine, or even imprisonment.
Many Asian nations are facing an increasing battle to stem the spread of coronavirus, amid a World Health Organization warning that some needed to take “aggressive measures”.
Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are among nations imposing strict border controls.
Cases in the South Asian subcontinent are still below 500 but there are fears a spike could overwhelm health systems.
There are 185,000 cases globally, with 7,500 confirmed deaths.
Some nations and territories that had seen success in controlling the virus or slowing its arrival, including South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, have seen new spikes, amid fears, people returning from abroad are importing the virus.
Asian stocks have continued to fall as worries about the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes that major stimulus plans would ease the impact of the outbreak.
What was the WHO warning?
It was issued for the organisation’s South East Asia region, although this contains 11 nations spread widely, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh and North Korea.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of the WHO South East Asia region, said on Tuesday that “more clusters of virus transmission are being confirmed”.
“We need to immediately scale up all efforts to prevent the virus from infecting more people,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said. “We clearly need to do more, and urgently.”
The WHO said the numbers in its South East Asia region showed that “some countries are clearly heading towards community transmission of Covid-19”.
It called for continued efforts to “detect, test, treat, isolate and trace contacts”.
Dr Khetrapal Singh said “practising social distancing [could] not be emphasised enough… this alone has the potential to substantially reduce transmission”.
“We need to act now,” she said.
Many regional countries inside and outside the WHO’s definition of South East Asia have had a slow response to the outbreak, only taking drastic measures in recent weeks or days as the number of cases continue to grow.
Where are the infections increasing? Almost all nations are seeing increases, although the rates vary widely.
China still has the highest number of confirmed cases, with more than 80,000, but its new infections are almost exclusively from people arriving from abroad and are very low.
South Korea has also been praised for its attempts to control the virus and its 8,413 cases have seen it fall below Germany to sixth in the running list of cases compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
It has been ahead of other nations by testing thousands of people and had seen a downward trend in new infections.
But there are now small clusters breaking out across the country, with 93 more cases in the past 24 hours. Dozens of sick and elderly patients in a hospital in Daegu were infected.
Taiwan announced its largest single-day increase in new cases – 23 – bringing the total to 100.
The trend was mirrored in Hong Kong – 14 cases in a single day is the highest in the territory, all but one brought in from abroad.
Indonesia on Wednesday also announced its biggest daily rise, 55 more cases taking the total to 227, with 19 deaths.
Pakistan’s cases have now risen to 245, with the total of reported cases for the South Asian subcontinent reaching 482.
Thailand reported 35 new cases on Wednesday, taking its total infections to 212, officials said. Four of the cases were linked to an entertainment venue and 13 to a boxing bout, both in Bangkok.
Malaysia has warned of a fresh spike in cases, saying there is only a “slim chance” of breaking the chain of infections.
A mass Muslim gathering last month is linked to nearly two-thirds of its infections and thousands of attendees are yet to be tested.
Myanmar and Laos have both not reported any cases – though experts have seriously doubted the credibility of this.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s government claimed that people’s “lifestyle and diet” had protected them from the virus. But it has imposed restrictions on arrivals and the UK government is now advising against all but essential travel there.
There are also no reported cases of the virus in Timor-Leste.
What are the nations doing?
From Wednesday, Malaysia is preventing citizens from traveling overseas and visitors from entering until 31 March at least.
Many Malaysians who commute to work in Singapore had to queue to cross the border before the midnight deadline, and will have to stay there.
Streets in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur were largely empty and supermarket chains are enforcing limits on purchases of staples.
Thailand has closed schools, bars, cinemas and other entertainment centres.
The Philippines, which has 202 cases and 17 deaths, has imposed some of the toughest movement controls, effectively quarantining about half of its 107 million population.
But it reversed a decision to ban all international flights, and foreign nationals may now fly out, although arrivals will face strict quarantine protocols.
Taiwan will on Thursday ban foreigners from entering, apart from in some exceptional cases. Everyone arriving, including Taiwanese, will have to go into quarantine for 14 days.
Japanese media report that visas issued to European travellers will be invalidated and people arriving from 38 nations will have to self-quarantine.
The coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold over the past two weeks.
He said he was “deeply concerned” by “alarming levels of inaction” over the virus.
A pandemic is a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.
However, Dr Tedros said that calling the outbreak a pandemic did not mean the WHO was changing its advice about what countries should do.
He called on governments to change the course of the outbreak by taking “urgent and aggressive action”.
“Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled,” he said.
“The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same – it’s whether they will.”
Governments had to “strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human rights”.
“We’re in this together to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It’s doable,” he said.
Earlier, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that up to 70% of the country’s population – some 58 million people – could contract the coronavirus.
She said since there was no known cure, the focus would fall on slowing the spread of the virus. “It’s about winning time,” she said.
to Iran but there was still a shortage of ventilators and oxygen.
“Iran and Italy are suffering now but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation very soon,” he said.
What else is happening?
In the western US, Washington state is banning some large gatherings in certain areas and has told all school districts to prepare for possible closures in the coming days. The governor of Seattle’s King County said he expected a serious coronavirus outbreak within weeks.
In the eastern US, New York’s governor announced that troops would be sent into New Rochelle, in an attempt to contain an outbreak of the virus, as the total number of US cases passed 1,000 on Wednesday.
A one-mile (1.6km) containment zone was in force around the town north of Manhattan. Some individuals have been quarantined.
A number of countries have imposed sweeping travel restrictions. India has suspended most visas for foreigners until 15 April. Guatemala is banning European citizens from entering from Thursday.
Several countries – including Sweden and Bulgaria, as well as the Republic of Ireland – have recorded their first deaths, while the number of confirmed cases in Qatar jumped from 24 to 262.
China – where the virus was first detected – has seen a total of 80,754 confirmed cases and 3,136 deaths. But it recorded its lowest number of new infections, just 19, on Tuesday.
According to worldometers.info, hosted by the American Library Association, the infectious disease has spread to more than 121 countries and territories and infected more than 124,000 people. More than 4, 580 people have died, while there have been about 67, 050 cases of recovery.
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has lauded the efforts of the Nigerian government on measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Ghebreyesus in a tweet on his twitter handle @DrTedros admitted the Nigerian government’s effort in containing the outbreak. He further commended the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, for its efforts since the index case of the virus was reported late February.
Ghebreyesus stated that Nigeria was swift and transparent in the manner it shared the sequence of coronavirus from the country’s first case.
“This a true act of solidarity and an important step in stopping the coronavirus from spreading further.” His comment may not be unconnected with the country’s publication on the first African SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence, from coronavirus.
The tweet reads: “Thank you @NCDCgov & the Government of #Nigeria for the swift & transparent way you have shared the #COVID19 sequence from the country’s first case. This a true act of solidarity and an important step in stopping the #coronavirus from spreading further.
The impact and risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus is now at a global level, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom has said.
“The continued increase in the number of cases, and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern.Our epidemiologists have been monitoring these developments continuously, and we have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of the impact of COVID19 to very high at a global level,†Mr. Adhanom said in his opening remarks at a media briefing on the coronavirus.
Mr. Adhanom was however quick to add that there is a “chance of containing this virus if robust action is taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients and trace contacts.â€
Cases of so far
The WHO Director General said, “as of 6am Geneva time this morning, China has reported a total of 78,959 cases of COVID-19 to WHO, including 2791 deaths.â€
Outside China, there are now 4351 cases in 49 countries and 67 deaths.
Since yesterday, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Nigeria have all reported their first cases. All these cases have links to Italy.
24 cases have been exported from Italy to 14 countries, and 97 cases have been exported from Iran to 11 countries.
About Covid-19
The novel coronavirus is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before.
Like other coronaviruses, it comes from animals and many of the first cases were of people who either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of Wuhan.
The novel coronavirus is airborne and symptoms begin to manifest after 14 days.
A person could transmit the disease before symptoms begin to manifest.
Precautions recommended include regular hand washing, using a hand sanitizer, using a nose mask and avoiding contact or proximity with infected persons.
The fatality rate of the virus has not been officially determined but it is thought to be around 2 percent.
A recent study published in a medical journal revealed that the average age of a coronavirus patient is 55 years old.
Also, 80 percent of those who have died from the disease were aged 60 or above.
A majority of the fatalities had preexisting health conditions.
The World Health Organization has said the world should do more to prepare for a possible coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO said it was too early to call the outbreak a pandemic but countries should be “in a phase of preparedness”.
A pandemic is when an infectious disease spreads easily from person to person in many parts of the world.
More cases of the virus, which causes respiratory disease Covid-19, continue to emerge, with outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran causing concern.
However, most infections are in China, the original source of the virus, where 77,000 people have the disease and nearly 2,600 have died. The number of new cases there is now falling.
More than 1,200 cases have been confirmed in about 30 other countries and there have been more than 20 deaths. Italy reported three more deaths on Monday, raising the total there to six.
Worldwide stock markets saw sharp falls because of concerns about the economic impact of the virus.
China said it would postpone the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress next month, to “continue the efforts” against the coronavirus.
The body, which approves decisions made by the Communist Party, has met every year since 1978.
The proportion of infected people who die from Covid-19 appears to be between 1% and 2%, although the WHO cautions that the mortality rate is not known yet.
On Monday Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain reported their first cases, all involving people who had come from Iran. Officials in Bahrain said the patient infected there was a school bus driver, and several schools had been closed as a result.
What does the WHO say?
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference on Monday that the number of new cases in recent days in Iran, Italy and South Korea was “deeply concerning” but not yet a pandemic.
“For the moment we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus and we are not witnessing large scale severe disease or deaths,” he said.
“Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely, it has. Are we there yet? From our assessment, not yet.”
What are the symptoms?
The main signs of infection are fever (high temperature) and a cough as well as shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
What should I do?
Frequent handwashing with soap or gel, avoiding close contact with people who are ill and not touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands can help cut the risk of infection.
Catching coughs and sneezes in a tissue, binning it and washing your hands can minimize the risk of spreading disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the coronavirus outbreak has not reached the level of a pandemic but warned countries to step up preparations to deal with such a scenario, as new deaths and infections were reported in the Middle East and Europe.
While the global health agency is very concerned about the spread of the virus within countries such as South Korea, Iran and Italy, its chief said on Monday the infections in China – the country where it originated late last year – have been declining since early February, which proved that the virus can be contained.
“For the moment, we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this coronavirus, and we are not witnessing large-scale severe disease or death,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
He added, however, that countries should be “doing everything we can to prepare for a potential pandemic.
“What we see are epidemics in different parts of the world affecting countries in different ways and requiring a tailored response.”
The WHO chief’s comments came as officials in Europe and the Middle East scramble to limit the spread of the outbreak and stock markets dipped on fears of a global slowdown due to the spread of the virus, officially known as COVID-19.
In Italy, where there have been more than 200 infections and seven deaths, authorities have set up roadblocks, called off football matches, sealed off the worst-affected towns and banned public gatherings across a wide area.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from central Milan in northern Italy, said there appeared to be a sense of alarm but not panic.
“People are taking precautions … but they are still out and about,” he said. “All that being said though, people are concerned because there were just a handful of cases last week and in the past few days they have spiked.”
In Iran, the government said 12 people had died nationwide, while five neighbouring countries – Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Afghanistan – reported their first cases of the virus, with those infected all having links to Iran. A WHO team is due to arrive in Iran on Tuesday.
South Korea, meanwhile, reported 231 new cases, taking its total to 833. Many are in its fourth-largest city, Daegu, which became more isolated with Asiana Airlines and Korean Air suspending flights there until next month. Mongolia earlier announced it would not allow flights from South Korea to land.
‘World in Wuhan’s debt’
Officially known as COVID-19, the virus has so spread to almost 30 countries and killed about two dozen people. In China, it has infected some 77,000 people and killed more than 2,500, most of them in the central province of Hubei.
Beijing postponed the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress – due to start on March 5 – for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus outbreak, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday.
“So far, no new date has been set,” Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said.
“But analysts say when the meeting is rescheduled, that will be the biggest indicator that the country has finally won its so-called war against the coronavirus outbreak.”
Yu said 24 of China’s 31 provinces reported no new cases in the past 24 hours, while a visiting WHO team noted that a turning point had been reached in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak and the capital of Hubei.
“They’re at a point now where the number of cured people coming out of hospitals each day is much more than the sick going in,” Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO delegation in China, said in Beijing.
He added that China’s actions, especially in Wuhan, had probably prevented hundreds of thousands of cases and urged the rest of the world to learn the lesson of acting fast.
“The world is in your debt,” Aylward said, referring to the people of Wuhan. “The people of that city have gone through an extraordinary period and they’re still going through it.”
Meanwhile, the virus is taking an increasingly heavy toll on the global economy, with many factories in China closed or subdued due to the quarantines.
The surge of cases outside mainland China triggered sharp falls in global share markets as investors fled to safe havens. European share markets suffered their biggest slump since mid-2016, gold soared to a seven-year high, oil tumbled nearly 5 percent and the Korean won fell to its lowest level since August.
Wall Street dived around 3 percent after it opened as the ugly sell-off spread. Italian shares tumbled nearly 5 percent.
The International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday that the epidemic was putting a “fragile” global economic recovery at risk, while the White House said the shutdowns in China will have an impact on the United States.
