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COVID-19 10 times deadlier than swine flu –WHO

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COVID-19: Global cases reach 1.5m, as WHO challenges US, China

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday coronavirus was 10 times deadlier than swine flu which caused a global pandemic in 2009.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, stated this at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said the virus could spread more easily in crowded environments like nursing homes.

Ghebreyesus said: “We know that early case-finding, testing, isolating caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping transmission.

“We know that in some countries, cases are doubling every three to four days.”

According to him, while COVID-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly; in other words, the way down is much slower than the way up.

He added: “That means control measures must be lifted slowly, and with control. It cannot happen all at once.

“Control measures can only be lifted if the right public health measures are in place, including the significant capacity for contact tracing.

“But while some countries are considering how to ease restrictions, others are considering whether to introduce them – especially many low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

READ ALSO: Controversy as China imposes restrictions on research publications tracing the origins of coronavirus

“In countries with large poor populations, the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions used in some high-income countries may not be practical.

“Many poor people, migrants, and refugees are already living in overcrowded conditions with few resources and little access to health care.”

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