War against COVID-19 far from over - WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over as they plan a visit to China to investigate the virus further.

What does it mean?

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing on Monday (29 June) that while several countries have shown progress in curbing the spread of the deadly virus, the pandemic is still far from being over.

"We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over.

"Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up."

What’s next?

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a milestone of more than 10 million confirmed cases of infection with over 500,000 deaths worldwide.

WHO's emergencies programme chief Mike Ryan said that progress have been positive towards finding a vaccine to prevent further infections, but there is no guarantee as to when they will successfully come up with one that is safe for use.

In the meantime, countries are advised to remain vigilant by monitoring the spread of the virus through testing and contact tracing.

WHO also highlighted five priorities for every single country to focus on which includes empowering lives, suppressing transmission, saving lives, accelerating research and political leadership.

In speeding up their efforts to find out more about the virus, WHO will also be sending a team to China next week to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.

"We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started.

"We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that," Tedros said.