- Title: WHO warns some nations still face 'long, hard' battle against COVID-19
- Date: 1st July 2020
- Summary: GENEVA SWITZERLAND (FILE - MAY 18, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WHO HEADQUARTERS
- Embargoed: 15th July 2020 17:16
- Keywords: COVID-19 Eastern Mediterranean Tedros WHO coronavirus
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / CAIRO, EGYPT
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA002CKZBXAF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nations who fail to use every mechanism available to combat the still-raging novel coronavirus will struggle to beat it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday (July 1).
"Some countries ... have taken a fragmented approach. These countries face a long, hard road ahead," Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva, without singling out any nations.
More than 10.5 million people have been infected globally and more than half a million have died since the COVID-19 disease first emerged in China.
At the briefing, WHO Eastern Mediterranean regional director Ahem Al-Mandhari said his region has been hard hit by the outbreak, citing poor living conditions for millions in camps, health systems ravaged by conflict and shortages of care workers and medicines.
WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told the same briefing the U.N. body planned to send two experts from headquarters to join its country team in China to establish the scope for a mission looking into the origins of the coronavirus.
Heavily criticised by the United States and others for secrecy and a late response, China has said it was transparent throughout and would support an investigation once the pandemic is under control.
While many have signalled a live animal market as the probable origin, U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have said there is evidence the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
The Americas are the current epicentre, particularly the United States, which has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the world - more than 127,393.
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