The World Health Organization has warned countries against complacency in complying with basic healthcare precautions primed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, adding that the pandemic has the potential to get worse.
This warning comes after the number the number of global cases reached 12.3 million.
“Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way.”
“There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future … There is a lot to be concerned about,” Tedros added, in some of his strongest comments of recent weeks.
The WHO on Saturday reported a record daily increase in global coronavirus cases, the total rising by 228,102 in 24 hours. The biggest rises were in the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa.
Global coronavirus cases exceed 12.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 556,383 people have died of it in seven months.
