“There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future. There is a lot to be concerned about,” Tedros said, in some of his strongest comments of recent weeks.

The coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe will worsen if countries fail to adhere to strict healthcare protocols, WHO warned.

“Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from the UN agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

“If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go – it is going to get worse and worse and worse.”

The US and Brazil are the worst hit countries.

Tedros, whose leadership has been heavily criticised by US President Donald Trump , said that of 2,30,000 new cases recorded on July 12, 80 percent were from 10 nations and 50 percent from just two counties.

A WHO advance team has gone to China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, first discovered in the city of Wuhan. The team members are in quarantine as per standard procedure, before they begin work with Chinese scientists, WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan said.

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