World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that there would be no return to the "old normal" for the foreseeable future, especially if preventive measures against the coronavirus pandemic are neglected.
"Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one," he told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva.
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"If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way."
The WHO has recorded 13,240,715 coronavirus cases worldwide, including 575,601 deaths. So far, 7,707,191 have recovered from COVID-19 disease. In Israel, 40,248 cases of the virus have been recorded as of Monday, including 365 deaths. Some 19,323 Israelis have recovered from the virus.
Ghebreyesus noted Monday that the Americas account for more than half the world's infections and half the deaths.
Parts of the world, especially the United States with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases, are still seeing huge increases in the first wave of COVID-19 infections, while others "flatten the curve" and ease lockdowns.
The United States reported a daily global record of 69,070 new infections on July 10. In Brazil, 1.86 million people have tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 72,000 people have died.
The US state of Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, more than South Korea's total since the disease was first identified at the end of last year. It tallied another 12,624 new cases on Monday.
Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 US states, according to a Reuters comparison of the past two weeks and the prior two weeks.
WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan urged countries not to turn schools into "another political football", saying they could safely reopen once the virus had been suppressed.
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