Europe is now the “epicenter” of the global coronavirus pandemic as it aggressively spreads through Italy and other European nations — at the same time as it has slowed in China — the head of the World Health Organization said Friday.
“More cases are now being reported [in Europe] every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Switzerland, where the WHO has its headquarters in Geneva.
“Europe has now become the epicenter of the #COVID19 pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from #China. More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” the WHO said on Twitter.
Tedros said all countries need to take multiple measures to fight the pandemic.
“Not testing alone, not contact tracing alone, not quarantine alone, not social distancing alone, do it all,” he said.
“Any country that looks at the experience of other countries with large epidemics and thinks that won’t happen to us is making a deadly mistake, it can happen to any country.”
Italy has the most cases outside of China with at least 15,113 infections, Spain is next at 4,334, Germany follows at 3,156 and France at 2,882, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, CNBC reported.
The US has at least 1,701 confirmed cases as of Friday morning, according to the university.
However, with no widespread testing, the actual number of cases in the US remains unknown.