Geneva (Web Desk): The World Health Organisation said on Monday on Monday warned that, despite the rush to discover effective vaccines, there might never be a "silver bullet" for the new coronavirus.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the governments and citizens to focus on doing the known basics, such as testing, contact tracing, maintaining physical distance, and wearing a mask in order to suppress the pandemic, which has upended normal life around the globe and triggered a devastating economic crisis.
“We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection,” Tedros told a virtual press conference. “However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment — and there might never be.
“The basics of public health” are most effective for now, Tedros added, saying that wearing a mask in particular was sending a “powerful message to those around you that we are all in this together”.
The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide topped 18 million on Monday with the illness continuing its march, after Australia’s second-largest city imposed a curfew to halt the spread.