WHO sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in Italy’s COVID-19 situation
NATIONAL | March 25, 2020:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic situation, saying there was a glimmer of hope in Italy as fewer cases were reported than in the previous days.
However, the WHO said it was still far too early to claim that the tide had turned, and the situation there needed to be carefully observed in the coming days.
Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for WHO, told a press briefing here on Tuesday that there were also some early positive signs in several European countries, which nonetheless had to be viewed with caution, Xinhua reported.
Acknowledging that the outbreak was rapidly accelerating, the spokesperson told the media that 85 percent of the new cases reported in the last 24 hours had come from Europe and the US, which were now "the epicenters of the pandemic".
According to the latest figures from WHO, in the past 24 hours a total of 39,827 newly confirmed cases have been reported, and the global death toll now stood at 16,231.