The novel coronavirus has proven to be 10 times deadlier than the swine flu outbreak, the World Health Organization said, emphasizing on the discovery of a vaccine in order to fully halt transmission of the lethal pathogen.
The outbreak of swine flu in 2009 caused a global pandemic.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday told a virtual briefing from Geneva that the organisation was constantly learning about the new virus sweeping the globe, which has now killed nearly 115,000 people and infected over 1.8 million.
"We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly, 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic," he said.
According to the WHO, 18,500 people died of 'swine flu', or H1N1, which was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States in March 2009, but the Lancet medical estimated the toll to be between 151,700 and 575,400.
The Lancet review included estimated deaths in Africa and Southeast Asia that were not accounted for by the WHO.
The outbreak was declared a pandemic in June 2009 and considered over by August 2010. However, it did not turn out to be as deadly as first feared.
Vaccines were rushed out, but in hindsight, the West, particularly Europe, and the WHO were criticised for overreacting at a time when annual influenza epidemics every year killed between 250,000 and 500,000 people, according to WHO.
Tedros grieved Monday that some countries are seeing a doubling of cases every three to four days, but stressed that if countries were committed to “early case-finding, testing, isolating (and) caring for every case and tracing every contact” they could rein in the virus.
More than half of the planet’s population is currently staying home as part of efforts to stem the spread of the virus, but Tedros warned that "our global connectedness means the risk of re-introduction and resurgence of the disease will continue".
He also mentioned that while COVID-19 had accelerated quickly, "it decelerates much more slowly."
"In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up," he said, stressing that "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 significant capacity for contact tracing," he said.
Regardless of the efforts put in place, the organization acknowledged that the ultimate development and delivery of a safe and effective vaccine would be needed to fully interrupt transmission the transmission of novel coronavirus.
It is thought that developing a vaccine for this novel virus requres at least 12 to 18 months more.
(Source: BSS)
/teb
