WHO Says There Is No ‘Zero Risk’ Environment For COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) declares there is no place it deems to be a “zero risk” environment for the coronavirus.

The top of the WHO emergency program, Dr. Michael Ryan, responded to a reporter’s question Monday in Geneva about the protection of air travel as many European countries revive their boundaries to tourists from other EU countries.

“Let us recollect, and we’ve observed there are no ‘zero ‘risks in any situation,” Ryan responded. “We need to seek and overcome those perils to the absolute minimum and alleviate any adverse consequences.”

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus alerted of a potential resurgence of COVID-19 in nations where the pandemic has seemed to have fallen.

The first cases of COVID-19 were recorded in China in late December when physicians started talking about a new pneumonia-like illness.

Tedros stated more than 100,000 verified cases of the virus had been recorded each day globally over the past two weeks, and nations that have restrained transmissions “must remain observant of the occurrence of resurgence.” Most of the new cases are in the Americas and South Asia, he declared.

Among those South Asian countries is Pakistan, where specialists say the amount of coronavirus cases could double by the end of the month if people neglect physical distancing and other precautions.

According to the Johns Hopkins University tracking as of Monday, Pakistan had more than 154,00 cases and 2,800 plus deaths according to Wednesday, and officials there warn there could be as many as 1.2 million cases by July. Pakistan lifted its lockdown on May 9, citing economic stress, and has since seen infection rates rise from 1-in-10 tests to quite 1-in-5.

Pakistan’s Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umer, who also directs the government’s COVID-19 command center, stated Monday that there must be “a change in our approach to the virus,” remarking that a lot of Pakistanis decline to hold out even the first important preventative measures like wearing masks.

But some Pakistani executives say the country’s financial status will fail if the public does everything doctors advise.

Meanwhile, many Europeans are again filling restaurants and putting their feet in sandy beaches as border restrictions are lifted across much of the continent.

Americans and Asians are still restricted from coming to the EU for a minimum of another month. However, many European tourists are allowed to visit their neighbors once again, even while they are still urged to show caution.

“We have gotten the pandemic in check, (but) the reviving of our frontiers may be a crucial note,” declared Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. “The threat is still real. The virus is still out there.”

French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the reopening of Parisian restaurants and therefore the city’s iconic sidewalk cafes Monday, saying it’s time “to turn the page of the primary act of the crisis” and “rediscover our taste for freedom…this doesn’t mean the virus has disappeared and we can let down our guard…the summer of 2020 will be a summer unlike any other.”

Travelers arriving in Greece are not any longer required to be tested for COVID-19.

But visitors to Britain must enter a 14-day quarantine, prompting several countries to stay their borders closed to Britons.

In the United States, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the COVID-19 death rates for people with a chronic illness is 12 times higher than others who get infected.

The top illnesses that pose a higher risk of death are heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease.

A new survey by the University of Chicago finds that 11% of African Americans had an in-depth friend or loved one who died from the coronavirus compared to 4% of whites.

Health experts say while preexisting conditions and limited access to quality health care play a neighborhood within the gap, other reasons loom.