World Health Organisation on Friday warned the world had entered a “new and dangerous phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, with people tiring of lockdowns despite the disease’s accelerating spread.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged nations and citizens to remain extremely vigilant, as the number of cases reported to the UN health agency hit a new peak.
“The pandemic is accelerating. More than 150,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported to WHO yesterday – the most in a single day so far,” Mr Tedros told a virtual press conference.
He said almost half of those cases were reported from the Americas, with large numbers also being reported from South Asia and the Middle East.
“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies,” he said.
“But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly and most people are still susceptible,” he said, with the most vulnerable set to suffer the worst.
The warning came as it emerged that the virus was present in Italy in December, months before its first confirmed cases and about the same time as the disease was first reported in China.
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