WHO: Several nations seeing peaks
Official rejects idea of ‘testing phenomenon’
GENEVA — A record level of new daily COVID-19 cases worldwide could suggest the pandemic is peaking in some large countries, even as the coronavirus has become “well established” in some regions, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said Monday.
At a media briefing Monday, Dr. Michael Ryan said that “the numbers are quickly rising because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time,” even as it appears to be stabilizing and even reducing in parts of Western Europe.
In its latest Situation Report on COVID-19 late Sunday, WHO reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count — more than 183,000 new cases in a 24-hour period. That was underpinned by over 54,700 new cases in Brazil and more than 36,600 in the United States.
Some countries have attributed their increased caseload to more testing, including India — which counted more than 15,000 new cases over the 24-hour span — and the United States. But Ryan dismissed that explanation.
“We do not believe this is a testing phenomenon,” he said, noting that many countries have also noted marked increases in hospital admissions and deaths — neither of which can be explained by increased testing.
“There definitely is a shift in that the virus is now very well established,” Ryan said. “The epidemic is now peaking or moving towards a peak in a number of large countries.” The situation was “definitely accelerating” in several countries, including in South Asia and the Americas, he said.
He aired new concerns about rising case counts in the Americas and cited a record jump of over 54,000 new daily cases in Brazil. There, nearly one in three people tested overall have turned up positive — suggesting that the case counts might be going unnoticed.
Still, the overall pattern in Brazil was “relatively stable” in June, he said, adding that the 54,000 new cases in a 24-hour period “needs to be examined carefully” to determine the reason for the spike.
Brazil still has “relatively low” testing per population, Ryan said, and its rate of positive cases was 31 percent — far higher than the 5 percent rate generally found in countries that “are detecting all of their cases.”
“Up to nearly one-third of all tests are positive, which does indicate that there is under-detection or under-reporting of cases overall,” he explained.
As for Africa, Ryan cited a “mixed” situation but that numbers are “generally on the rise,” noting increased cases in South Africa, Benin, Burundi, Eritrea and Ethiopia — the home country of WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Ryan said large cities appeared to be more affected.
In other developments:
Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house reopened Monday and performed its first concert since the coronavirus lockdown — to an audience that didn’t have to worry about social distancing. Instead of people, the Uceli Quartet played Giacomo Puccini’s “I Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums)” for 2,292 plants, one for each seat in the theater. The concert was also livestreamed for humans to watch.
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that because of the coronavirus, only
“very limited numbers” of people will be allowed to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage, which traditionally draws around 2 million Muslims from around the world.
The restrictions on travel and business imposed to stem the coronavirus’s spread wiped out nearly all travel revenue for Greece in April, according to Bank of Greece figures. Provisional figures show travel receipts stood at $7.9 million in April, compared with $613 million in the same month last year, or a drop of
98.7 percent, Greece’s central bank said Monday.