As the coronavirus pandemic accelerates past a staggering 7 million confirmed cases globally, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) warned on Monday that the health emergency is far from over. More than 136,000 new cases were reported to the W.H.O. on Sunday, the most in a single day so far the agency stated. The W.H.O. added that nearly 75% of the cases came from 10 countries, mostly in the epicenter of the Americas and South Asia.
"In these countries, the biggest threat now is complacency," W.H.O. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated during a coronavirus briefing on Monday. "We continue to urge active surveillance to ensure the virus does not rebound, especially as mass gathering of all kinda are starting to resume in some countries."
Elsewhere, there have been signs of improvement around the world as cases in Europe continue to decline due to social restrictions put in place to combat the spread of the disease. Over in Oceania, New Zealand declared on Monday that the nation has eliminated the coronavirus domestically and will begin to lift nearly all of its social restrictions expect for its border controls, according to a Reuters report. The country of about 5 million residents was under strict lockdown measures for about 75 days which kept its citizens mostly as home. Similarly, New York City, one of the world's hardest hit areas, has begun easing its social restrictions on Monday, with the state planning on administrating 35,000 tests per day, according to New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Total Global Cases: Over 7.18 Million
Total Deaths: Over 408,000
Total Recovered: Over 3.5 Million
Some Good News
The W.H.O. stated on Monday that coronavirus patients without symptoms are not the main driver of the outbreak's spread. The global health officials stated that while asymptomatic transmission does occur, its rare. However, the agency noted that more research and studies must be done to determine how prevalent asymptomatic transmission is in the case of COVID-19.
"From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," head of the agency's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, stated during the W.H.O.'s briefing on Monday. "It's very rare."
A new study published in the scientific journal Nature on Monday from researchers at the University of California at Berkeley examined how 1,717 public policy intervention affected the spread of the virus in six countries: the United States, China, South Korea, Italy, France and Iran. The researchers found that those countries managed to avoid 62 million confirmed cases by implementation of social restrictions. The study added that those nations may have prevented as many as 530 million infections due to many not being formally diagnosed.
"Our results suggest that ongoing anti-contagion policies have already substantially reduced the number of COVID-19 infection observed in the world today," the researchers wrote.
Google Maps Update
Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) announced on Monday that Google Maps will soon provide COVID-19 alerts that users may need to know while driving or riding on public transportation. The alerts will act as public service announcements from government mandates on health and safety, with public transit alerts launching in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States.
The tech giant also stated that its Maps offering will alert users going to a coronavirus testing center to "verify eligibility and facility guidelines to avoid being turned away or causing additional strain on the local healthcare system." These alerts will start in Indonesia, Israel, the Philippines, South Korea, and the U.S. In addition, Google will warn the user if they are meeting a COVID-19 checkpoint on their route, starting with the borders between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The feature will launch for iOS (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Android users in the coming weeks.