WHO warns that 1st wave of pandemic not over

Bangkok: As Brazil and India struggle with surging coronavirus cases, a top health expert is warning that the world is still smack in the middle of the pandemic, dampening hopes for a speedy global economic rebound and renewed international travel.

Right now, we’re not in the second wave. We’re right in the middle of the first wave globally,” said Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s executive director.

We’re still very much in a phase where the disease is actually on the way up, Ryan told reporters, pointing to South America, South Asia and other areas where infections are still on the rise.

WHO poured cold water on the hopes of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and others of quickly re-opening the economy, warning that authorities must first have enough testing in place to control the spread of the pandemic.

Ryan said Brazil’s intense transmission rates means it should keep some stay-at-home measures in place, regardless of the negative impacts on its economy.

But Sao Paulo Governor has ruled out a full lockdown in Brazil’s largest state economy and plans to start loosening restrictions on June 1. A US travel ban was taking effect on Tuesday for foreigners coming from Brazil, moved up two days earlier than its original date. It does not apply to US citizens.

In Europe, the Russian government reported a record daily spike on Tuesday of 174 deaths, bringing the country’s confirmed death toll to 3,807. Russia’s coronavirus caseload surpassed 360,000 the third highest in the world with almost 9,000 new infections registered. The country’s comparatively low mortality rate has raised questions among experts both in Russia and in the West. Russian officials, however, vehemently deny manipulating any figures.

The question of who can travel where and when remains a dilemma that officials still have yet to solve.

Spain’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that European Union members should commonly agree to open borders and jointly determine which non-EU countries are designated as safe for travel.

South Korea is tracing dozens of infections linked to nightclubs and other entertainment venues as it prepares for 2.4 million students to return to school on Wednesday.

But South Korean rights groups have criticized government plans to require some businesses to register customers with smartphone QR codes.

Meanwhile, WHO said it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine the malaria drug US President Trump said he is taking from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial. The announcement came after a paper in the Lancet showed that people taking the drug were at higher risk of death and heart problems. (AP)