The COVID-19 pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has told a briefing on Monday, as the number of deaths worldwide exceeds 500,000.
“We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up,” Tedros said.
The United Nations health agency also said that it was planning to convene a meeting this week to assess progress in research towards fighting the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a team from the WHO will be sent to China next week to investigate the origins of the virus.
Global coronavirus cases now exceed 10 million and more than half a million people have died from the respiratory disease, COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
