Coronavirus | Eradication of virus unlikely, says WHO

WHO emergencies programme head Mike Ryan said that, by extinguishing clusters of infection, the world could ‘potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move backwards in terms of lockdown’

A logo is pictured on the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation's emergencies programme, said on Friday it was unlikely that the coronavirus would be eliminated.

“In the current situation it is unlikely we can eradicate this virus,” he told an online briefing from Geneva.

He said that, by extinguishing clusters of infection, the world could “potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move backwards in terms of lockdown”.

Pneumonia in Kazakhstan

Dr. Ryan said that an outbreak of pneumonia in Kazakhstan, reported to be highly lethal, was “certainly on our radar”.

But he also said it was possible it might be COVID-19.

“The upward trajectory of COVID-19 in the country would suggest that many of these cases are in fact undiagnosed cases of COVID-19,” he told an online briefing from Geneva.