Worst Yet to Come, WHO Says

New York City is reconsidering a plan to allow indoor dining July 6, as other states experience a surge in Covid-19 cases after reopening restaurants and bars. One of those states, Florida, reported a jump in its double-digit infection rate.

Gilead Sciences Inc. said it will charge the U.S. government and other developed countries $390 per vial for its coronavirus-fighting drug remdesivir, or about $2,340 for a typical five-day course of treatment.

Deaths from the virus surpassed 500,000 worldwide and confirmed cases exceeded 10 million as the World Health Organization warned that the worst is yet to come. Tokyo reported more incidences of the disease, daily deaths in Iran reached a record and cases in Austria rose to the highest level since mid-May.

Tomorrow marks six months since the World Health Organization became aware of the novel coronavirus, and the “worst is yet to come” given a lack of global solidarity, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said at a briefing in Geneva.

Some countries are experiencing a resurgence of cases and half the deaths are coming from the Americas, he said.

“This virus can be suppressed and contained using the tools at hand,” and countries shouldn’t wait for a vaccine to deal with it, Tedros said, giving the examples of South Korea, Japan and Germany. “If any country is saying that contact-tracing is difficult, it is a lame excuse.”

The WHO will send a team of researchers to China next week to study the virus’s origins, Tedros said.

European Union governments are poised to extend a travel ban for U.S. residents for at least two weeks, according to a draft of a decision due to be formally adopted on Tuesday.

Worst Yet to Come, WHO Says, Bloomberg, Jun 29