Discussion: What’s next in the fight against the coronavirus?

A painting on a wall shows a person dressed in full head to two medical protective gear with a red backpack and spray hose.

Coronavirus cases are soaring in several major countries at the same time, with “worrying increases” in Latin America, especially Brazil, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The world recorded more than 183,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most in a single day since the outbreak started in December, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“Certainly the numbers are increasing because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time and across the whole world,” WHO’s top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, told an online briefing. “Some of that increase may be attributed to increased testing … And certainly countries like India are testing more. But we do not believe that this is a testing phenomenon.”

Related discussion: How systemic racism intersects with the coronavirus pandemic

Global cases surpassed 9 million on Monday, with the United States, China and other hard-hit countries also reporting new outbreaks.

With countries starting to reopen while we await vaccines and treatments, what can we expect next and how can we prepare and respond?

As part of our series of live conversations addressing the coronavirus crisis, The World’s Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with epidemiologist Caroline Buckee from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The live Q&A was presented jointly by The Forum at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Reuters contributed to this article. 

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