It was around a few weeks back that Dr Anthony Fauci, one of the lead members of the Trump administration's White House Coronavirus Task Force called coronavirus 'a perfect storm' with no end in near sight. And now, WHO has warned that the death toll associated with coronavirus infection could cross two million if infection-fighting measures are not kept up.
Warning from WHO
The dire warning from WHO comes at a time when European countries that include the United Kingdom have decided to tighten the lockdown measures, amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
"One million is a terrible number and we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million. Are we prepared collectively to do what it takes to avoid that number? If we don't take those actions... yes, we will be looking at that number and sadly much higher," said Michael Ryan, WHO's Emergency director.
Europe facing the heat
Even though the United States is the worst-hit country due to the coronavirus outbreak, recent figures from Europe indicate that the pandemic has started resurging in the continent. Daily positive cases in France soared past 16,000 which clearly indicate the rise of the new pandemic wave.
Boris Johnson, the prime minister of the United Kingdom has also warned that the country will not return to normalcy in the next six months. Johnson also ordered new restriction measures in the country as an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.
"We will spare no effort in developing vaccines, treatments and new forms of mass testing, but unless we palpably make progress, we should assume that the restrictions I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months," Johnson told the Parliament.
Coronavirus: Latest statistics
According to the latest updates, the total number of coronavirus cases in the world have crossed 32 million, and the death toll is nearing one million. In the United States alone, there are 7.2 million positive cases, and the death toll has crossed 208,000. India is another country where coronavirus patients are increasing drastically. With more than 4.6 million positive cases and more than 93,000 deaths, the country is currently in the second spot in the pandemic's chaos chart.
