Coronavirus: WHO head says countries need to attack as pandemic is accelerating

The coronavirus pandemic was accelerating as the latest figures showed more than 350,000 were infected by the virus with cases in almost every country in the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said countries needed to take the offensive in combating the pandemic, including testing and contact tracing, according to Euronews. 

He said countries can not win just by defending against the virus, they needed to “attack” as well.
WHO said that testing was key, and while commending countries for being able to test so quickly, they insisted that all suspect cases need to be tested.

Some countries, WHO said, did not have to issue confinement and population restrictions because they had effectively tested and traced cases.

Confinement policies "buy time", WHO's head of health emergencies, Mike Ryan, said, but contact tracing and isolating cases is key to containing the spread of the virus.

“There is currently no treatment that has been proven to be effective against COVID-19,” Tedros said, while commending the energy put forth into clinical treatments.

“Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope,” he continued, stating that it could lead to a shortage in medicine needed for other diseases.