Covid-19 Is Defining Global Health Crisis of Our Time - WHO

By Staff, Agencies

The coronavirus pandemic is the “defining global health crisis of our time,” the World Health Organization [WHO] said on Monday, as the agency revealed that confirmed cases around the world have surpassed those within China.

The organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the containment strategy spearheaded by China, South Korea and Singapore has shown results in helping to cut down the level of coronavirus cases.

As well as commending containment efforts in those Asian nations, WHO experts emphasized the importance of increasing testing on a wider scale internationally, warning that outbreaks are not uniform in all countries.

This warning means that in some places, health authorities may need to move people around to better handle the situation as it develops.

The agency’s remarks come as more countries around the world close their borders or curtail incoming travel from certain areas more severely afflicted by the deadly virus.

“This virus is new and there are many things we don’t know about,” Tedros said during Monday's briefing, “so even rich countries should expect surprises.”

“The health system in high-income countries is lean and mean,” he added, and when an emergency like Covid-19 arises, "expanding to accommodate the new norm is very difficult” for them, which is why some countries have struggled with the virus.