January 13th, Michael Ryan, head of the WHO Health Emergency Project, said that last week, there were nearly 5 million new cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and now it is entering the second year of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Considering the spread of the virus, the epidemic situation may be more severe than in the first year.Michael Ryan also pointed out that in the northern hemisphere, especially in Europe and North America, people enter indoors due to the cold, social gatherings have increased, and a series of factors have intensified the spread of the virus in many countries.
Maria van Kohoff, technical director of WHO’s health emergency project, stressed that after the holiday, the situation in some countries may become much worse before it improves.
At present, mutant COVID-19 has appeared in the United Kingdom in 50 countries and regions around the world, and mutant COVID-19 in South Africa has appeared in 20 countries and regions.
Japan also reported to the WHO last week that a new mutant novel coronavirus was found among travelers from Brazil, and Brazilian researchers found another similar mutant novel coronavirus.