WHO Warns, ‘We Are Very Much in the Upswing of This Pandemic, Particularly in the Global South’

June 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, stated on June 12 that “We are very much in the upswing of this pandemic, particularly in the Global South.” Ryan said that COVID-19 is now “highly active” in Central and South America, highlighting the situations in Brazil and Mexico. Mexico has 139,196 cases with a total of 16,448 deaths, the health ministry said June 12. The real tally of infected people is substantially higher than the official count, Mexican authorities have said. Brazil is the second worst hit country in the world, after the U.S., with 850,514 cases and 42,720 deaths, according to a June 13 report by the country’s health ministry.

In Africa, the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection has topped 230,000 and over 6,000 people have died from the disease, the WHO reported today. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reported that the North African region is the most affected area across the continent both in terms of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths, reported to Xinhua. In addition to 43 countries under full border closure in Africa, night-time curfew has been activated across 35 countries, given the rapid spread of the disease.

Ryan continued: “Some countries are having trouble exiting of the so-called lockdowns as they are seeing an increase in cases…. There is a careful balance between keeping people at home ... and the untoward effect of that on economic and society. That is not an easy balance. There are no correct answers.” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Our fear is although it is declining in Europe, it is increasing in other parts of the world. Even Europe cannot be safe because the virus can be reintroduced to Europe.” Tedros also stressed that any