Following Thursday’s 150,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 across the world- the highest in a single day since the start of the crisis- the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that the pandemic is in a ‘new and dangerous phase.
Six hundred and sixty-seven fresh cases were recorded in Nigeria Friday by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), bringing the total in the country so far to 19,147.
The figures came as the Nigerian universities’ scientists under the aegis of COVID-19 Research Group announced the discovery of a vaccine for the prevention of Coronavirus while the Ogun State Government suspended its planned lifting of the ban on places of worship because of the increasing rate of infection.
Tedros told a virtual briefing in Geneva that “the virus is still spreading fast, is still deadly, and most people are still susceptible.”
Nearly half of the new cases are in the Americas. Many of the new cases also came from South Asia and the Middle East, Tedros added.
The European regional director of WHO, Dr Hans Kluge, said a second wave in the autumn was possible. “We have the seasonal influenza. There is the possibility of a seasonal effect on the virus – but we’re not sure yet – that then we will see a second wave,” Kluge said.
Continuing, he said: “The lesson is that we have to implement what we know works – at the core of the strategy is to find as early as possible, isolate, test suspected people from Covid, and if needs be, treat them without any stigma or discrimination.
“At the same time (governments need) to track and quarantine contacts – contact tracing is an essential element of this strategy. But there is no single solution.”