Global coronavirus (COVID-19) infections topped nine million as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the pandemic was accelerating and Saudi Arabia announced it would scale back the hajj Islamic pilgrimage next month. But many parts of the world, including Latin America and South Asia, are only beginning to feel the full force of the pandemic, while other regions are being hit with second waves. A million and counting: On global coronavirus spread“The pandemic is still accelerating,” the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual health forum organised in the United Arab Emirates. “This is not what a gradual end to the lockdown looks like,” said Dr. Gilbert Deray. “I understand that the Festival of Music is something of a liberation, but did we really have to have it this year?”

Source: The Hindu June 23, 2020 17:19 UTC