Coronavirus crisis may get "worse and worse and worse," WHO chief warns

CBS NEWS  July 14, 2020

The World Health Organization warned Monday that there could be no return to normality any time soon as too many countries were bungling their response to the coronavirus pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that if public health guidelines are not followed, the crisis will get "worse and worse and worse."

After a daily record of 230,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported to the WHO on Sunday, the U.N. health agency said the pandemic was only going to get worse unless people stuck to the basics of physical distancing, handwashing and wearing masks.

Tedros warned that countries that were easing their way out of lockdowns were now witnessing a resurgence of the virus because they were not following proven methods to reduce risk.

"I want to be straight with you: there will be no return to the 'old normal' for the foreseeable future," Tedros told a virtual news briefing.

"Let me blunt: too many countries are headed in the wrong direction.