The example of Wuhan, epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in China where no new case of local origin has been recorded since Thursday, is a "hope" for the world, said Friday the director general of the WHO .
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"No new cases" in Wuhan in 24 hours, a first
"Yesterday, Wuhan did not report any new cases for the first time since the emergence of the epidemic," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at an online press conference from Geneva. "Wuhan gives hope to the rest of the world by showing that even the most serious situation is reversible," he added. For the second consecutive day, China did not report any new local contamination on Friday, even though the number of imported cases reached a record high (39). Italy pays the heaviest price and is now ahead of China (80,976 cases, including 3,248 deaths), with 47,021 cases and 4,032 deaths.
In total, the pandemic has killed at least 11,015 people worldwide since its onset in December, according to an AFP count from official sources on Friday around 5.00 p.m. GMT. More than 250,000 cases of infection have been detected worldwide.
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"Hope and courage to the rest of the world"
"Obviously, we have to be careful. The situation can turn around again. But the experience of cities and countries that have rolled back the coronavirus gives hope and courage to the rest of the world," noted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He also said that in order to make up for the shortage of protective equipment for healthcare workers (masks, gloves), the WHO had identified "producers in China who agreed to supply them".
In this regard, he thanked Chinese billionaire Jack Ma for their "contribution to providing essential equipment to countries that need it." Founder of retail giant Alibaba, Jack Ma has already donated 500,000 test kits and one million masks to the United States.