World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hopes the coronavirus pandemic will be over within two years.
The WHO chief, while speaking in Geneva on Friday said the Spanish flu of 1918 took two years to overcome, says a media report.
Ghebreyesus hoped the advances in technology would be able to help the world halt the virus “in a shorter time”.
“Of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading,” the report quoted Ghebreyesus as saying.
“But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it, and the knowledge to stop it,” the WHO chief said while stressing the need of “national unity, global solidarity”.
The Spanish flu claimed the lives of at least 50 million people in 1918.
The global coronavirus tally has gone up to 22,864,873, with the highest number of cases (5,621,035) reported from the United States followed by Brazil (3,532,330), according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.
The deadly infection has so far claimed nearly 8 million lives worldwide.
While responding to a question about corruption relating to personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, the WHO chief said, “Any type of corruption is unacceptable.”
“However, corruption related to PPE… for me it’s actually murder. Because if health workers work without PPE, we’re risking their lives. And that also risks the lives of the people they serve,” he added.
In India, the overall tally rose to 2,905,823 after 68,898 fresh cases were registered within a span of 24 hours while the death tally stands at 55,858.
