Make no mistake, coronavirus will be with us for a long time: WHO chief Tedros
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.The WHO chief has come in for scathing criticism from the US for its handling of the virus
World Health Organization(WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today that the coronavirus pandemic "will be with us for a long time".
"Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said while adding that most people around the world "remain susceptible to COVID-19".
"WHO declared virus emergency at the right time," Tedros asserted, adding that the world "had enough time to respond".
The WHO chief has come in for scathing criticism from the US for its handling of the virus. US President Trump froze funds for the UN health agency accusing it of "mishandling" the virus.
Trump had earlier accused the WHO of having a "China bais".
"COVID-19 is reminding us of a simple but vital truth: we are one species, sharing one planet," the WHO chief said on the occasion of World Earth Day.
The international health body had warned earlier that there was still a long way to go to defeat the COVID-19 epidemic with most countries still in the early stages of dealing with the pandemic even as the director of the US Centers for Disease Control warned Americans to prepare for a ferocious second wave.
With several countries across the world on lockdown from the US, Europe to Asia, the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage countries even as economies have gone into recession with oil prices plunging.
As a result of the large scale deaths, President Trump said he would stop issuing of green cards for 60 days, but exempted temporary workers.
"It will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens," he said. "It would be wrong and unjust for Americans to be replaced with immigrant labor flown in from abroad," the US president added.