Mahikeng - The novel coronavirus was on the verge of breaching 100 000 confirmed cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
"In the past 24 hours, 2 736 cases of Covid-19 were reported from 47 countries and territories. There is now a total of 98 023 reported cases of Covid-19 globally, and 3380 deaths. We are now on the verge of reaching 100 000 confirmed cases," director-genera Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He said that as cases increased, the WHO recommended that all countries made containment their highest priority. He again called on countries to continue finding, testing, isolating and caring for every case and to trace every contact. "Slowing down the epidemic saves lives, and it buys time for preparedness and for research and development. Every day we can slow down the epidemic is another day hospitals can prepare themselves for cases," he said.
"Every day we slow down the epidemic is another day governments can prepare their health workers to detect, test, treat and care for patients.
"Every day we slow down the epidemic is another day closer to having vaccines and therapeutics, which can in turn prevent infections and save lives."
The WHO had developed a set of core protocols that outlined standards for how studies should be done, and to collect critical data, he said.
"France and South Africa have already indicated they will use these protocols for clinical trials, and we encourage other countries to do the same. We’re also developing research protocols to assess interventions for disenfranchised communities such as refugees and internally displaced persons," said Ghebreyesus.