As the cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) speed up across the world, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that all countries will have to learn to live with the virus in the coming months until a vaccine that is globally recognized becomes available.
As of Monday, the pandemic has already infected more than 10 million people worldwide, including nearly 500,000 deaths.
“The critical question that all countries will face in the coming months is how to live with this virus. That is the new normal,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a daily press briefing.
Although many countries have made some progress against the COVID-19, Tedros said it continues to spread across the world at a rapid pace.
“Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world — and our lives — would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus,” the WHO chief said.
“The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity,” he continued. “All over the world, we have seen heartwarming acts of resilience, inventiveness, solidarity, and kindness. But we have also seen concerning signs of stigma, misinformation and the politicization of the pandemic.”
He urged all countries to prioritize five sets of measures to save lives, including empowering communities and individuals to protect themselves and others, suppressing virus transmission, saving lives with oxygen and dexamethasone for instance, accelerating research on COVID-19, and strengthening political leadership and solidarity.
