WHO urges aggressive virus measures amid flare-ups
>>GENEVA: The World Health Organization has urged countries grappling with coronavirus to step up control measures as some nations clamp fresh restrictions.
With case numbers worldwide more than doubling in the past six weeks, Uzbekistan on Friday returned to lockdown and Hong Kong said schools would close from tomorrow after the city recorded “exponential growth” in locally transmitted infections.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries to adopt an aggressive approach, highlighting
Italy, Spain, South Korea and India’s biggest slum to show it was possible to stop the spread.
The health agency’s comments came as US President Donald Trump was forced to cancel an election rally in New Hampshire, citing a storm.
Mr Trump has pushed to hold large gatherings against health advice as epidemiologists warn of the dangers posed by the virus moving through the air in crowded and confined spaces.
On a visit to Florida on Friday, Mr Trump hit out at Beijing over the pandemic.
“(The) relationship with China has been severely damaged. They could have stopped the plague .... They didn’t stop it,” he told reporters.
The virus has killed at least 556,140 people worldwide since it emerged.
More than 12.3 million cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories, triggering massive economic damage.
The United States, the country worst hit by the illness, reported almost 64,000 new cases Friday and the death toll now stands at just under 134,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.