https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/det...the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---5-march-2020
It's a "false hope" that COVID-19 will be seasonal and subside in the summer, like the flu, the World Health Organization said Friday.
"We have to assume that the virus will continue to have the capacity to spread," Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's health emergencies program, said at the agency's headquarters in Geneva. "It's a false hope to say, yes, that it will disappear like the flu."
"We hope it does. That would be a godsend," he added. "But we can't make that assumption. And there is no evidence."
Now to the numbers.
There is now a total of 95,265 reported cases of COVID-19 globally, and 3281 deaths.
In the past 24 hours, China reported 143 cases. Most cases continue to be reported from Hubei province, and 8 provinces have not reported any cases in the last 14 days.
Outside China, 2055 cases were reported in 33 countries. Around 80% of those cases continue to come from just three countries.
We see encouraging signs from the Republic of Korea. The number of newly-reported cases appears to be declining, and the cases that are being reported are being identified primarily from known clusters.
Although a few countries are reporting large numbers of cases, 115 countries have not reported any cases.
21 countries have reported only one case.
And 5 countries that had reported cases have not reported new cases in the past 14 days.
The experience of these countries and of China continues to demonstrate that this is not a one-way street.
This epidemic can be pushed back, but only with a collective, coordinated and comprehensive approach that engages the entire machinery of government.
AIN'T NO MINOR THING EITHER..