(VOVWORLD) - The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the coronavirus pandemic is not even close to being over amid an increase of COVID-19 cases since social distancing efforts have eased.
At a conference on COVID-19 in Geneva on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that some countries, by lifting their shutdowns too soon, have created a pandemic, even stronger than the original pandemic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Some countries are now experiencing a resurgence of cases as they start to reopen their economy and society. Most people remain susceptible, the virus still has a lot of room to move."
"We all want this to be over, but the harsh reality is this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually accelerating.”
According to worldometers.info, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected more than 10.4 million people, with more than 507,000 deaths.
The US is still the most-affected country with more than 2.6 million cases and nearly 130,000 deaths. Brazil has more than 1.3 million cases and over 58,000 deaths. Russia has over 640,000 cases and more than 9,000 deaths. India, the fourth most-affected country, has nearly 570,000 cases and nearly 17,000 deaths.