The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) at this time had a grim warning concerning the subsequent months with COVID-19, warning that some nations are on a “dangerous track.” Its newest evaluation got here on a day when the WHO reported probably the most circumstances ever in a single day, 445,419, roughly half of them from Europe.

Meanwhile, the pandemic complete handed around 43 million circumstances, at present standing at 42,745,971 circumstances, 1,152,463 of them deadly, based on the Johns Hopkins online tracker.

At a media briefing at this time, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, mentioned the world is at a “critical juncture” with the pandemic, particularly within the Northern Hemisphere.

“The next few months are going to be very tough, and some countries are on a dangerous track,” he mentioned, noting that too many nations are reporting exponential will increase in circumstances.

Rising circumstances are actually placing hospitals and intensive care items (ICUs) close to or above capability, “and we’re still only in October,” he mentioned.

Tedros urged nations to take 5 key steps, which embrace conducting an trustworthy evaluation of the information to evaluate the present scenario, making COVID-19 measure changes when hospitalizations and ICU charges are rising, and being clear and trustworthy with the general public about their pandemic standing.

He additionally pressed governments to make it simpler to adjust to measures and, lastly, to offer folks particular directions on what sick or uncovered folks ought to do and share tales of hope and resilience.

Mandatory stay-at-home orders may be prevented if nations fine-tune their contact-tracing methods and concentrate on isolating all circumstances and quarantining their contacts, he mentioned.

“We’ve seen many times from around the world that it’s never too late for leaders to act and turn the outbreak around.” Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, the WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, mentioned Europe’s scenario may be very worrying and that many cities will attain full ICU capability within the coming weeks.

And Mike Ryan, MD, who directs the WHO’s well being emergencies program, urged nations to shore up frontline well being methods in order that they don’t collapse underneath the caseload.