COVID-19 cases not peaked yet in Europe, US: WHO

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - Of the overall outbreaks of COVID-19 around the world, 90% are registered in Europe and the U.S., and the peaks in both have certainly not been reached yet, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson said Tuesday.

WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris, at a UN press briefing from Geneva, urged following the organization's guidelines on the lifting of restrictions before lockdown easing measures are made.

"We're beginning to see a slight deceleration in cases," Harris said responding to a question of Anadolu Agency, adding: "It's going to take time. But yes, they see a slowing."

Harris said other countries were still seeing rises in the number of cases.

She cited Turkey and the U.K., noting that overall there is a "mixed picture" in Europe where the number of cases is easing in countries like Italy and Spain.

Overall, "90% of cases are coming from Europe and the United States of America. So, we are certainly not seeing the peak yet," she said.

The WHO had put out clear guidance with six steps that each country needs to ensure that they've got in place before they started to ease restrictions, she stressed.

"And the most important one is: 'is your transmission controlled?'," said Harris.

She also said that countries need to know where the COVID-19 virus is, and also have the ability to test for the infection.

"And you've got the ability to track all the cases of all the contacts of the people that you know, currently infectious," said the WHO spokesperson who explained that fuller guidelines are to be released soon.

Harris was asked about vaccines that are in the global pipeline, and said: "We shouldn't really be expecting to see the vaccine for 12 months or longer."

The U.S. has currently over 582,500 cases and more than 23,600 deaths, while the cases in the U.K. exceeds 89,500 cases, with the death toll surpassing 11,300, while Turkey has reported over 61,000 infections and nearly 1,300 deaths, according to the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. over the weekend overtook Italy's death toll of more than 20,400 and that of Spain's exceeding 18,000 to have the world's highest death toll from the virus.