Speaking via a virtual press briefing on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented on evidence from several countries which provided a clearer picture of how the virus spread and behaved.

“We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly, 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic,” he said. He added that in certain countries cases were doubling every three to four days. From January 2009 to August 2010, over 1.6 million people were confirmed to be infected with the H1N1/09 virus strain, which causes swine flu.

While lab tests confirmed 18,449 virus-related deaths, flu patients were generally not tested for the virus. The WHO and CDC estimated that between 151,700 and 575,400 people died due to the virus in the first year of the outbreak alone.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the WHO had observed the various social and economic restrictions governments have implemented around the world to fight COVID-19. He noted that in particular circumstances, lockdown measures that demand citizens stay in their homes may not be suitable. “In countries with large poor populations, the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions used in some high-income countries may not be practical,” Tedros said.

“Many poor people, migrants and refugees are already living in overcrowded conditions with few resources and little access to health care,” he said. “How do you survive a lockdown when you depend on your daily labour to eat? News reports from around the world describe how many people are in danger of being left without access to food,” Tedros stated.

He added that the fact that schools around the world have closed for an estimated 1.4 billion children, meant that not only would their education be halted, but they were now open to an increased risk of abuse, and many have been deprived of their primary source of food.

He called on countries to ensure that where stay-at-home measures are used, it must not be at the expense of human rights.