Coronavirus: WHO warns global divide is ‘accelerating’ virus

In many countries the spread of coronavirus is still accelerating, but WHO has warned the greatest threat the world is facing is not the virus itself.

Coronavirus is still spreading rapidly in many countries and world leaders have been warned there is one major issue exacerbating the pandemic.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that if something didn’t change in the way the virus was being handled then the situation would continue to deteriorate.

“Globally, the pandemic is still accelerating,” Dr Tedros said during virtual health forum organised by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

“The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.

“We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.”

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There are now more than nine million confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, with the death toll sitting at around 475,000.

Experts say the actual numbers are much higher, due to limited testing and asymptomatic cases.

The number of new infections is growing at such a rapid rate that it took just eight days to reach the last million cases, while the first million cases took about three months to reach.

WHO has warned COVID-19 cases are ‘accelerating’ globally. Picture: Worldometers

Recently there have been three separate occasions where more than 150,000 new daily cases were recorded.

On Monday, WHO reported the largest single-day increase in cases, with more than 183,000 cases confirmed within 24 hours.

“We know that the pandemic is much more than a health crisis. It is an economic crisis, a social crisis, and in many countries a political crisis,” Dr Tedros said.

“Its effects will be felt for decades to come.”

He warned against the ongoing politicisation of the pandemic, saying countries do not have to choose between “lives and livelihoods”.

There is particular division within the US, with President Donald Trump pushing to reopen the economy despite having the highest coronavirus death toll in the world, with more than 123,000 fatalities.

Recently, US authorities reported more than 30,000 new infections, with Mr Trump seeming to suggest he urged health officials to “slow the testing” because too many cases were being identified.

However, top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said he had never been issued such an order.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Trump said he wasn’t kidding when he made that remark and doubled down on testing claims on Twitter.

Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

Democrats have blasted the US President for confusing the public with erroneous statements on testing, masks and unproven treatments and ignoring the public health experts’ advice.

“It costs lives,” politician Kathy Castor said of Mr Trump’s claims.

She urged the public health specialists to do more to counter the President.

“We really expect you to be more outspoken,” she said.

In South America, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the threat of COVID-19, comparing the virus to a “little flu” and arguing the economic impact of shutdowns is worse than the virus itself.

He has repeatedly pushed back against “job killing” social distancing measures despite the growing number of cases across the nation.

Brazil is the second worst affected country behind the US with more than 1.1 million confirmed cases and over 52,000 deaths.

Even countries that had appeared to have been successful in flattening the curve of the virus are experiencing unsettling new outbreaks.

Overnight Australia recorded its first coronavirus death since May 23 as Melbourne saw its eighth day of double digit increases in cases.

Victorian chief medical officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said a man in his 80s died from the disease overnight.

His death brings the total number of deaths in Victoria to 20 and the national total to 103.

South Korean health authorities have declared the country is battling a second wave of infections. Picture: Jung Yeon-je/AFP

China, Germany, South Korea and Japan are also battling new outbreaks, with some reintroducing containment measures.

South Korea announced it was battling a “second wave” of the virus after recording 46 new cases on Tuesday.

Social distancing rules were relaxed after a public holiday in early May and the country has since been returning largely to normal.

But in the last month it has seen around 35 to 50 cases a day, mostly in the Seoul metropolitan area where half of the population lives.

“We believe the second wave has been running since it was triggered by the May holiday,” said Jung Eun-kyeong, director of Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Europe, countries continued to ease their lockdown restrictions. Thousands of French danced and partied well into Monday for an annual music festival, in the first big blowout since the lockdown.

Revellers packed the streets of Paris, most shunning masks and social distancing, to enjoy concerts in cafes and on street corners.

Although there were none of the usual extravaganzas, many felt the authorities were too lax.

“This is not what a gradual end to the lockdown looks like,” senior French doctor, Gilbert Deray, said.

Though many people have recovered from the virus, the daily number of new cases is still increasing. Picture: Worldometers

In Pakistan, infections are accelerating and hospitals are having to turn away patients, with up to 6800 new cases each day.

The government has relaxed pandemic restrictions, hoping to salvage a near-collapsed economy as the number of people living in poverty has risen to 40 per cent of the population of 220 million people.

India’s healthcare system has been slammed by the virus. The country’s caseload climbed by nearly 15,000 on Monday to 425,282, with more than 13,000 deaths.

After easing a nationwide lockdown, the Indian government ran special trains to return thousands of migrant workers to their villages in recent weeks.

Nearly 90 per cent of India’s poorest districts have cases, although the outbreak remains centred in Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu states, which are home to major cities.

– with AP