NEW YORK – Global Covid-19 cases topped 55 million today, according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, reported Xinhua news agency.
The World Health Organisation said yesterday that it was “extremely concerned” by the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in some countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas.
"Right now we are extremely concerned by the surge in cases we're seeing in some countries. Particularly in Europe and the Americas, health workers and health systems are being pushed to the breaking point," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.
He warned that “those countries letting the virus run unchecked are playing with fire, as there will be further needless deaths and suffering”.
According to the latest WHO statistics, as of 2.59pm on Monday, the organisation’s regional offices in Europe and the Americas had respectively recorded 15,266,390 and 23,190,772 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 344,459 and 679,201 deaths.
The two regions combined have recorded more than 70% of the overall confirmed cases and over 77% of all Covid-19 deaths worldwide.
Many countries in the two regions have reported record daily spikes in infections in the past few weeks.
"There is no excuse for inaction. My message is very clear: act fast, act now, act decisively," urged Tedros.
He added that the WHO and its partners are working with governments and health leaders to ensure coverage for sick health workers, enough beds for Covid-19 patients and enough masks, gloves and other protective equipment.
"A laissez-faire attitude to the virus and not using the full range of tools available leads to death and suffering, and hurts livelihoods and economies," he warned while urging governments to put restrictions in place so that “there is once again a narrow window of time to strengthen key systems”. – Bernama, November 17, 2020
