Despite the current situation of the pandemic, The World Health Organization implied on Monday that there was still a chance that this pandemic could be turned around.
Both the death rate and case rate is expected to reach the depressing landmarks of 750,000 deaths and 20 million cases. Nevertheless, the WHO emphasizes what still can be done to end the coronavirus crisis from terrorizing people worldwide.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the Chief of WHO. In a press conference, he noted that this week it is expected that the cases will add up to 20 million while the death number will rise to 750,000 deaths.
He admitted that this statistic is followed by immense pain and great suffering. Statistics are not just numbers but actual people and each loss of life hold great importance. He accepted how the world is currently grieving and that this is not an easy state for the world.
To raise spirits Tedros provided examples of countries that successfully stopped the spread of coronavirus. Among his examples were countries like New Zealand and Rwanda. He also adequately praised countries that suffered large outbreaks and still managed to act quickly to manage the local spikes.
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He reminded people again and again that the only way we can move forward is if we completely suppress the virus transmission. Only when we are successful in suppressing coronavirus entirely can we dream of reopening societies to the life we once had.
As of now the lethal coronavirus has caused 731,500 deaths among the population and has infected as many as 19.9 million people all over the globe ever since the infection emerged in Wuhan, China last year.
Now that most of the world is aware of how urgently we need a vaccine to defeat the coronavirus, the race to make an effective and successful vaccine is going on at a speedy pace.
According to an overview by WHO, around the globe, there are about 165 total potential vaccines that are being developed as of yet.
Among those 139 vaccines are currently under pre-clinical evaluation. The remaining 26 vaccines are however in different phases of testing with human subjects. Six among them are those that have made it the farthest now that they are in Phase 3 of clinical evaluation.
Finding a vaccine, however, would not automatically end the coronavirus.
An Irish epidemiologist has noted that just how we cannot eliminate diseases like polio and measles despite having effective vaccines for them, we might follow the same fate with the coronavirus vaccine.
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Acquiring a successful vaccine is only one part of the answer. The problem remains if delivering the vaccine to the masses is not successful and those who demand it don’t get it.
Maria Van Kerkhove is WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, she says experts do not yet know if the people who have one of the four coronaviruses also known as common colds that are prevalent across the globe, had some sort of immunity against the new strain of coronavirus.
The virus lives because it infects as many people as it possibly can without killing too many as that could mean the end for its survival and it won’t be able to find a new host. Therefore experts believe protective measures like social distancing, hand washing regularly, and wearing face coverings could seriously help to end the coronavirus.
