WHO Leader: COVID-19 Dwarfs 2009 Flu

The COVID-19 pandemic is 10 times deadlier than the flu pandemic of 2009, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, general director of the World Health Organization.

“We know that early case-finding, testing, isolating caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping transmission,” he said in a media statement yesterday. “We know that in some countries, cases are doubling every three to four days.”

Adhanom Ghebreyesu acknowledged that while economic and social-distancing restrictions that have been put in place are disrupting society and leading to a severe decrease in the education of children due to school closures, the measures are needed to keep the virus from spreading.

Read his full statement here.