WHO Chief: COVID-19 Pandemic Is ‘Accelerating’

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivering a virtual news briefing on the CCP virus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on March 23, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

The COVID-19 pandemic is “accelerating,” World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

“The pandemic is accelerating. It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases. You can see how the virus is accelerating,” he said at a press conference in Geneva.

The COVID-19 disease is caused by a virus that originated in China last year.

The Epoch Times refers to that virus as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mishandling allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.

Tedros argued that the trajectory of the pandemic can be changed by actions undertaken by countries around the world, including asking people to stay at home and other physical distancing measures.

A police officer checks a car driver at one of the exits of Sofia, following restrictions on non-essential travel between cities and towns, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the CCP virus in Bulgaria on March 21, 2020. (Dimitar Kyosemarliev/Reuters)

Those measures, though, are all defensive. Offensive measures are also needed, he said.

“To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics—testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and tracing and quarantining every close contact,” he said.

“We recognize that some countries are struggling with the capacity to carry out these offensive measures.”

The WHO is working with partners to try to boost production of a number of resources, including masks and other personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, as well as researching possible therapeutic drugs, including remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine.

The organization said in its March 22 situation report (pdf) that there were 292,142 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 12,784 confirmed deaths, but these figures include cases and deaths recorded in China. Internal documents from the Chinese Communist Party, including other data, indicate the party has manipulated its official figures. Over the 24 hours before the report, there were over 26,000 new cases and 1,600 new deaths.

The death rate from those numbers is 4.3 percent but numerous experts believe the rate is far lower because of the number of mild and asymptomatic cases that aren’t being confirmed.