The World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that countries who are seeing declining infections could still face an “immediate second peak.”
Dr Mike Ryan from the WHO said the world is still in the middle of the first wave of coronavirus on Monday at an online briefing.
Dr Ryan said epidemics often come in waves and that outbreaks of the virus could come back later this year.
Infection rates could rise more quickly if the first measures to prevent the spread are lifted too soon which will cause a second peak of the virus.
He said, “When we speak about a second wave classically what we often mean is there will be a first wave of the disease by itself, and then it recurs months later. And that may be a reality for many countries in a number of months’ time.
“But we need also to be cognizant of the fact that the disease can jump up at any time. We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now it is going to keep going down and we are get a number of months to get ready for a second wave.
“We may get a second peak in this wave.”
Dr Ryan strongly advised, Europe and North America should “continue to put in place the public health and social measures, the surveillance measures, the testing measures and a comprehensive strategy to ensure that we continue on a downwards trajectory and we don’t have an immediate second peak.”
Leave a Comment