The identity of the initial case of Covid-19, the so-called ‘patient-zero’, could remain a mystery forever, the WHO said, calling on countries to step up cooperation and information sharing in an attempt to defeat the disease.
“We have to be very careful with the use of the phrase ‘patient zero’ which many people use as the first initial case. We may never find out who the patient was. “ Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical leader on Covid-19, said at a press conference on Friday, referring to the fact-finding mission of the organization that arrived in Wuhan on Thursday, widely regarded as an original focus of the pandemic.
While China has largely succeeded in curbing the virus with its two-month-long exclusion imposed on Wuhan at the start of the pandemic, he recently saw an increase in new cases and reported 130 new infections on Friday – which, however, ‘ a far from the numbers seen in America or Europe.
The increase in global cases is thought to be driven by new mutant strains of the virus that are likely to be much more contagious. Especially the new Covid-19 variants “A fast and quick effort is needed for research, collaboration between the research teams and the sharing of information,” Professor Didier Houssin, the head of the WTO’s emergency committee, told the conference.
“We are in a race between the virus that will continue to mutate to spread more easily and the humanity that must try to stop its spread,” he said.
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Call the world “Paralyzed” and “confused,” Houssin suggested developing a global “Scientifically based guidance on how to facilitate travel safely” to prevent air traffic from being completely turned off, while at the same time making sure that the virus is contained.
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the WHO, dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, argued that the reason why the virus is still wreaking havoc worldwide is the failure to break the distribution chain “At community level or within households.”
The more the virus is suppressed, the less likely it is to mutate. We need to be more effective than the virus
The WHO also hopes that vaccines will help limit the spread of the disease. According to Houssin, the target set by the UN Health Dog for 2021 is predicted that about 20 percent of the world’s population will be vaccinated, including in low-income countries.
The press conference that followed the WTO emergency committee meeting came as the total number of Covid-19 infections in the world exceeded 93.8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. The total number of deaths linked to Covid-19 is more than 2 million.
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