Never too late to act, says WHO chief as deaths near 750,000

The World Health Organisation insisted yesterday that there was still hope of conquering the coronavirus pandemic despite Covid-19 claiming more than 736,000 lives and infecting more than 20 million people.

With the death toll expected to pass 750,000 within days, the WHO said it was never too late to take action.

“This week we’ll reach 20 million registered cases of Covid-19 and 750,000 deaths,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering.

“Every life lost matters. I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world.

“But I want to be clear: there are green shoots of hope and ... it’s never too late to turn the outbreak around.”

Mr Tedros gave examples of countries that had successfully clamped down on the spread of Covid-19, citing New Zealand and Rwanda, and praised nations that had suffered major national outbreaks and were now responding quickly to local surges.

“My message is crystal clear: suppress, suppress, suppress the virus,” he said.

“If we suppress the virus effectively, we can safely open up societies.”

Covid-19 has killed at least 736,044 people since the outbreak began in China in December.

The UAE confirmed 179 new coronavirus cases yesterday, bringing the total to 62,704.

Another 198 people recovered, taking that tally to 56,766.

The latest infections were identified after 58,953 new tests were conducted. There are 5,581 active cases. No deaths were reported over the previous 24 hours.

Officials urged the public not to flout Covid-19 safety measures, after a 30 per cent surge in the number of Emiratis catching the virus was reported during the Eid Al Adha holidays.

“The increase we saw in Covid-19 cases was associated with social and family gatherings,” said government spokesman Dr Omar Al Hammadi.

“Unlike people’s behaviour at public places, which is subject to mandatory measures like social distancing and face mask wearing, private and family gatherings are not.”

Meanwhile, Iran shut down a newspaper yesterday after it quoted a former member of the national coronavirus task force as saying the country’s tolls from the epidemic could be 20 times higher than official figures, state news agency Irna reported.

“The Jahan-e Sanat newspaper was shut down today for publishing an interview on

Sunday,” said the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Mohammadreza Saadi.

The newspaper published an interview with Mohammadreza Mahboubfar in which he said: “The figures announced by the officials on coronavirus cases and deaths account for only 5 per cent of the country’s real tolls.”

Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari rejected Mr Mahboubfar’s remarks.

Elsewhere, it was announced that the largest 20 US airlines carried 16.3 million passengers in June – an 80 per cent decline over the same month last year, but nearly twice as many as in May.

The coronavirus pandemic cut US airline passenger demand, but it has rebounded from historic lows in April, when only three million passengers travelled.

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened more than 800,000 people at US airport checkpoints on Sunday for the first time since March 17, still down about 70 per cent against the previous year’s figures.

The UK yesterday recorded 816 new cases of Covid-19, down from the previous day’s total, which was the highest daily rise in infections since late June.

Official data showed that 311,641 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK.

On Sunday, 1,062 new cases were announced. The increase came at the same time as new local lockdowns were introduced in some areas and concerns were raised over a second wave of infections.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited New Zealand and Rwanda as success stories that should inspire hope