WHO Chief warns of complacency as global virus cases drop
The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday that the drop in confirmed COVID-19 infections around the world was encouraging, but cautioned against relaxing restrictions that have helped curb its spread. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of reported infections globally has declined for the fourth week in a row, and the number of deaths also fell for the second consecutive week.
Complacency is as dangerous as the virus itself: Tedros
"These declines appear to be due to countries implementing public health measures more stringently," Tedros said. "We should all be encouraged, but complacency is as dangerous as the virus itself," he said. "Now is not the time for any country to relax measures or for any individual to let down their guard," he added.
About 1.9 million cases registered for week ending February 8
While the figures reported by countries to the WHO for the week ending February 8 are still incomplete, the global body said so far about 1.9 million newly confirmed cases were registered worldwide, down from more than 3.2 million the previous week.
'COVID-19 first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal'
Meanwhile, Tedros said WHO expert mission members who recently visited China to investigate the possible source of the outbreak will publish a summary of findings next week. Earlier this week, Chinese scientists and the WHO team said that the coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal. An alternate theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab was unlikely.
We were not working with COVID-19 causing virus: Wuhan lab
Peter Ben Embarek, the leader of the WHO mission, said on Friday that the labs in Wuhan that his team visited stated they had not been working with the virus that causes COVID-19 or had it in their collections before the outbreak. But he said that it was possible the virus could still be present in samples that haven't yet been analyzed.
No large cluster of the disease in Wuhan: Embarek
Embarek said the team had gained a much better insight into the early stages of the outbreak and concluded there was no large cluster of the disease in Wuhan or elsewhere around the city in the months prior to the first cases in December 2019.
WHO held its first meeting to define, diagnose 'Long COVID'
Embarek added that scientists are far away from understanding the origin and identifying animal species and, or the pathways from which the virus could have entered humans in December. Tedros, the WHO's Director-General, said that the Geneva-based body had this week held its first meeting to help define and diagnose what he called a post-COVID-19 condition, also known as "Long COVID."
'Way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 first'
"This illness affects patients with severe and mild COVID-19. Part of the challenge is that patients with Long COVID can have different symptoms that can be persistent or can come and go," Tedros said. "Given the scale of the pandemic, we expect many people to be affected by post-COVID-19 condition. The best way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 first," he said.
