Keypoints:
- The worldwide death toll is approaching 2 million people since the pandemic began, with 91.5 million people infected.
- The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic may be tougher than the first given how the new coronavirus is spreading.
The way coronavirus is spreading, it could be a a difficult time to pass through the Covid pandemic since the second year of the pandemic could be worse. More infectious variants are spreading especially in the northern hemisphere, said the World Health Organisation on Wednesday.
During an event on social media, Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies official said that,”We are going into a second year of this, it could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing.”
According to the John Hopkins university, since the pandemic began, the death toll is approaching 2 million people with more than 92.5 million people being infected.
“Certainly in the northern hemisphere, particularly in Europe and North America, we have seen that sort of perfect storm of the season — coldness, people going inside, increased social mixing and a combination of factors that have driven increased transmission in many, many countries,” Ryan said.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, warned, “After the holidays, in some countries the situation will get a lot worse before it gets better.”
“I worry that we will remain in this pattern of peak and trough and peak and trough, and we can do better,” Van Kerkhove said.
She called for maintaining physical distancing, and added, “The further, the better … but make sure that you keep that distance from people outside your immediate household.”
Amid growing fears of the more contagious coronavirus variant first detected in Britain but now entrenched worldwide, governments across Europe on Wednesday announced tighter, longer coronavirus restrictions. That includes home-office requirements and store closures in Switzerland, an extended Italian COVID-19 state of emergency and German efforts to further reduce contact between people to get the coronavirus under control.
