RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), expressed concern over the rapid global spread of the coronavirus. At a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the organization’s chief said that the number of cases of the disease is expected to reach one million over the next few days, with 50,000 deaths.
“We have seen an almost exponential growth in the volume of new cases over the past five weeks, reaching virtually all countries, territories and areas,” he said.
Tedros stressed that because it is the first coronavirus pandemic in history, the behavior of covid-19 is still unknown. “We are working hard with researchers around the world to gather evidence on which drugs are most effective in treating the disease,” he said.
The Ethiopian doctor said there are also studies on the effectiveness of wearing masks. The WHO recommends that only infected individuals or those who are caring for patients should wear them. “However, masks are only effective if combined with other protective measures,” he said.
The Organization’s Executive Director, Michael Ryan, recalled that there is still no proven treatment for the disease and that care must therefore be taken when using drugs that have not yet been studied. He also called for countries to implement comprehensive containment policies to prevent them from needing to change their guidelines every day. According to Ryan, quarantine cannot be the only action against the virus.