With the global COVID-19 total now over 16 million, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said pandemic activity is accelerating, with fresh clusters reported in Vietnam, a country that had controlled the spread of the virus, according to a news report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
The pandemic total made the jump from 15 million to 16 million in just 4 days, and the number has reached almost 16,500,000 cases, with over 650,500 people having died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
At a media briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said cases have roughly doubled over the past 6 weeks. He noted that July 30 marks the 6-month mark since the WHO—when there were fewer than 100 cases outside of China with no deaths—declared a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations.
Though the world has changed, the main pillars of the response have not, which include political leadership combined with informing, engaging, and listening to communities, Tedros said. "The bottom line is that one of the most fundamental ingredients for stopping the virus is determination and the willingness to make hard choices to keep ourselves and each other safe."
