RTFri, 13 Mar 2020 17:03 UTC
© REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoDirector-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 5,000 and Europe has become the center of the outbreak, the head of the World Health Organization has said.
WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the death toll passed the "tragic milestone" at Friday's daily briefing. He told the virtual press conference that Europe has become the center of the outbreak and
the continent has more cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from China.
The global health body said it is "impossible" to say when the pandemic will peak and Tedros warned world governments that a raft of measures are needed to tackle the disease.
He said that any country that thinks it could not fall victim to a large outbreak of the Covid-19 illness is making a "deadly mistake".
The health chief announced that the WHO is launching a Covid-19 solidarity response plan to enable individuals and organizations to contribute to disease control efforts.
The funds raised will be used to coordinate the response to tackling the crisis as well as buying masks, gloves, gowns, goggles and other essential materials. It will also be invested in research and development.
Speaking at the briefing, the WHO's Dr Mike Ryan said that there is a major funding gap for potential vaccines against the virus.
The novel coronavirus outbreak started in China late last year
but official figures show that the Asian country has stabilized the spread of the disease. Meanwhile, the number of cases in European countries has skyrocketed in recent weeks and it was declared a pandemic on Wednesday.
Comment: The EU is running into problems
coordinating its response among members. Rusula von der Leyen slammed Trump's travel ban, but individual EU nations are implementing their own travel restrictions. Austria banned travel from Italy. Slovakia banned all international travel. The Czech Republic shut the borders with Austria and Germany. Slovenia closed its border with Italy. Macron said any country closing borders with Italy is making a bad decision. (But says it may be appropriate in the future.) Merkel too thinks it is not appropriate.
The same spirit of unity and solidarity was notably absent last week, however, when France and Germany, among others, refused to lift controls on the export of protective medical gear to avoid facing shortages at home - even after a desperate request to do so from Italy.
The refusal was criticized by EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic, who said the ban risks "undermining" the bloc's "collective approach" to handling the crisis.
While Ireland has closed all schools, those in Britain will remain open "for the foreseeable future." France too is
closing schools (the kids must be happy!), and banning
gatherings of over 100 people - to "postpone the spike" as long as possible (or "flatten the curve" as it's being called).
Ukraine
reported its first death, and Kazakhstan its first cases. Ukraine is closing its borders for the next two weeks. Iranian security forces have been
ordered to clear the streets, making sure businesses and roads are shut down, and a nationwide lockdown has been ordered - to take effect in the next 24 hours. Russia has
closed its border to anyone coming from Italy.
In the States, Louisiana
postponed its Democratic primary for two months. New York
"canceled Broadway" (and all other theaters), and banned gatherings of 500 or more people. And Wall Street had its
worst day since 1987's Black Monday.
See also:
The western construction of this "global" organization is obvious. The WHO has a history of experimentation on live subjects, West Nile as an example.