Daily Times

Some 400,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported over the weekend and the new coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of slowing down, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

“The outbreak is accelerating and we’ve clearly not reached the peak of the pandemic,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.

The World Health Organization also acknowledged Tuesday that there was “emerging evidence” on airborne transmission of the new coronavirus, after an international group of scientists said it could spread far beyond two metres.

The comments come after the WHO said its member nations reported more than 212,000 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the highest single-day total and increase since the start of the pandemic. The numbers were reported amid Fourth of July celebrations, which U.S. health officials said may add to increasing case numbers in the coming weeks.

Ghebreyesus commended the countries who have made progress in reducing their case numbers and deaths for implementing “targeted actions towards the most vulnerable groups,” including for those living in long-term care facilities.

He added that the WHO is sending a team of experts to China this weekend to gain a better understanding of the origins of COVID-19.

There have now been more than 11.6 million cases of COVID-19 confirmed around the world, as well as more than 539,000 deaths, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. However, with shortages of testing materials across the globe, the WHO says the exact number of COVID-19 cases is unknown.