The coronavirus "continues to accelerate" in the world, with the last million cases reported in just eight days, says the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"We know that the pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it is an economic crisis, a social crisis and, in many countries, political crisis," Tedros said. "Its effects will be felt for decades to come," he added at a virtual conference.
Tedros' warning comes at a time when many countries have entered a phase of deconfinement to revive their economies, impacted by the new coronavirus (Covid-19).
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Last week, Tedros described this new phase as "dangerous," saying that despite the need to break out of containment, the virus was still spreading rapidly and remained deadly.
It took more than three months for the first million cases to be reported, whereas the last million cases were reported in just eight days, he points out.
The WHO chief also called on governments and societies to prepare for possible future pandemics that could start "in any country at any time and kill millions of people as we are not prepared."
The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 465,300 people worldwide since China officially reported the outbreak in December, according to an AFP report based on official sources on Sunday evening.
As of Saturday, Belgium counted 60,550 confirmed cases, of which 9,696 have died.
The Brussels Times
