WHO says elimination of COVID-19 is "very unlikely"

Guwahati: Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergencies program chief said Friday that the dreaded COVID-19 probably could not be eliminated if "current global conditions persisted."

Ryan, during the WHO's regular coronavirus briefing in Geneva, said that ""In the current situation, it is unlikely we can eradicate the virus." He further added that the world could "potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move backward in terms of a lockdown if surges in infections could be extinguished", Ryan added.

The UN agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered a word of optimism, saying examples around the world have shown that even if the disease is "very intense," it can still be brought back under control. However, sounding a warning, Tedros said that global infections have more than doubled in the last 6 weeks.

According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, more than 12.3 million people had contracted COVID-19 worldwide by midafternoon Friday, with the United States being the worst-affected country. At the same time, more than 500,000 deaths have also been reported from virus-related complications.

However, experts believe that the number of actual infections could be even higher. Health experts are of the opinion that many COVID-19 cases go unreported for a variety of reasons, including testing shortages, the lack of transparency among some governments, and the attribution of COVID-19 deaths to related complications.

In another turnaround, the WHO has finally acknowledged that the COVID-19 could be spread through the air in crowded, closed or poorly ventilated environments. This came about after a team of scientists from Australia and the U.S. scientists — backed by more than 200 others — wrote this week that studies show "beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air."

Following this, there has been intense debate over the possibility of the COVID-19 being airborne. Meanwhile, the WHO, taking cognizance of the possibility, said more research is "urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of COVID-19."

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