WHO: 10% of World’s Population May Have Been Infected with COVID-19

By Staff, Agencies

The World Health Organization [WHO] estimated Monday that 10% of the world has been infected by the COVID-19 – way more than has been recorded – as it mulled speeding up internal reforms.

To date, more than 35 million cases of the coronavirus have been registered worldwide, including some 1.04 million who have died, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.

The WHO now estimates that around a tenth of the planet's 7.8 billion or so people have already been infected since the virus first surfaced in China late last year – more than 20 times the official count.

"Our current best estimate tells us that about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a special meeting of the agency's executive board.

He stressed that infection levels varied "from urban to rural, it varies between different groups."

"But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk," he warned.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus meanwhile told Monday's meeting that the pandemic should serve as a "wake-up call for all of us."

"We must all look in the mirror and ask what we can do better", he said.