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There may never be a 'silver bullet' for COVID-19, WHO warns

News Service
16:36 - 3/08/2020 Monday
Update: 17:38 - 3/08/2020 Monday
REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020.
FILE PHOTO: Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020.

INVESTIGATION

The WHO officials said an advance investigation team was not yet back from China, where the virus originated.

A larger, WHO-led team of Chinese and international experts is planned next, to study the origins of the virus in the city of Wuhan, although the timing and composition of that is not yet clear.

Tedros urged mothers to continue breastfeeding even if they had COVID-19, as the benefits "substantially" outweighed the risks of infection.

The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest global health emergency since the early 20th century, the international hunt for a vaccine was also historic.

"There are many vaccines under trial, a couple in the final stage of clinical trials - and there is hope. It does not mean that we will have the vaccine, but at least the speed with which we reached the level we reached now is unprecedented," he said.

"There are concerns that we may not have a vaccine that may work, or its protection could be for just a few months, not more. But until we finish the clinical trials, we will not know."

#The World Health Organization
#COVID-19
4 years ago