The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said spike in coronavirus cases in some countries were being driven by young people ‘letting down their guard’.
While addressing a virtual news conference in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said younger people are at risk too and they must take the same precautions to protect themselves during the time of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Evidence suggests that spikes of cases in some countries are being driven in part by younger people letting down their guard during the northern hemisphere summer,” Ghebreyesus said.
“Young people are not invincible, young people can be infected, young people can die and young people can transmit the virus to others,” he added.
The WHO chief said young people who have great potential to be leaders and ‘drivers of change’ must be more careful in ensuring that they are following all steps to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
He lamented that a major challenge in trying to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus was ‘convincing younger people of this risk’.
“The pandemic does not mean life has to stop.We must all learn to live with the virus, and to take the steps necessary to live our lives, while protecting ourselves and others especially those at highest risk of COVID-19,” Ghebreyesus said.
“All of us have a role to play in reducing our risk of exposure to COVID-19.Every day, we all make decisions that affect our health and the health of those around us, in manyways.Reliable information is extremely important in enabling people to make the right decisions for their health,” he added.