“COVID-19 has been a problem for most countries, but this pandemic also provides a good opportunity to pursue health as a bridge to peace", said Dr Carissa F. Etienne, the Regional Director for the Americas.

Dr Carissa F. Etienne has also noted, “In South America, our response to the pandemic will be impacted by the arrival of winter, while hurricane season will complicate our efforts in North and Central America, and especially in the Caribbean”

More than 7 million cases of COVID-19 and over 400 000 deaths have now been reported to WHO. Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening. On Sunday, more than 136 000 cases were reported, the most in a single day so far. In countries seeing positive signs, the WHO Director-General warned in his media briefing yesterday ‘the biggest threat now is complacency

A new technical note, Medical certification, ICD mortality coding, and reporting mortality associated with COVID-19, has been released that describes medical certification and classification of deaths related to COVID-19. The primary goal is to identify all deaths due to this disease in all countries.

A joint task force has been established by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Central European Initiative to strengthen regional coordination for the COVID-19 response and mitigate the impact of the pandemic. The task force will serve as a strategic platform for updating member states, exchanging information, and sharing experiences, best practices and training. 

This year on World Environment Day on 5 June, people around the world celebrated biodiversity and called for the preservation of nature, as human impact on the environment has increased the risk of emerging infectious diseases in humans: over 60% of emerging infectious diseases originate from animals, mainly from wildlife