WHO: COVID Global Death Tally Could Reach 2 Million

Parts of Europe turning to new restrictions as cases rise

A World Health Organization official has warned that the global COVID-19 death toll will likely reach as high as 2 million without an effective vaccine.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO's emergencies head, said that number could spiral even higher if countries do not formulate and adhere to a plan to stop the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Already, there are nearly 1 million global deaths and 32.5 million worldwide infections of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.

Ryan’s dire warning comes as Europe is experiencing a new wave of coronavirus infections, leading governments across the continent to reimpose some restrictions on residents and businesses.

Dutch Prime Minister Make Rutte called the wave of infections in his country “very worrying” as the Netherlands reported a new daily record of 2,777 cases.

"The figures look downright terrible,” he told reporters Friday. “In short, the situation is very worrisome and will force us to take extra measures.”

Rutte said he expects to announce those restrictions next week.

The Czech Republic also will face new measures starting next week, Health Minister Roman Prymula said Friday, without specifying exactly what limits will be in place.

Figures from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control show the Czech Republic trailing only Spain for the highest number of new cases per capita in Europe during the past two weeks.

Prymula said the countermeasures will affect gatherings of people but not harm the economy.

In Spain, local Madrid authorities and the national government are clashing over the extent of the steps needed to control the outbreak of new infections in the capital region.

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said Friday the government wants all of Madrid and its 3.3 million residents to go under lockdown.

The regional government said it will expand lockdown orders, but only partially, adding about 160,000 more people to the 850,000 who had to stay home this week unless they had an authorized reason to go out.

Madrid also has cut the number of people allowed to visit shops and restaurants, and it has closed parks.

The lockdown has drawn protest from those who say they are being targeted because they live in more densely populated, poorer areas that have worse infrastructure.

In contrast, in the U.S., Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced Friday that the state will move forward with reopening plans and entering Phase 3 despite the spread of the coronavirus.

Phase 3 includes lifting restrictions, including capacity limits, on the state’s bars, nightclubs and restaurants. In addition, under Phase 3, businesses that have had staffs teleworking as a result of the pandemic are allowed to resume unrestricted staffing on site, employees can resume nonessential travel, theme parks are able to return to normal operations, and gyms and fitness centers can operate at full capacity.

"Every business has a right to operate ... you can’t just say no after six months and have people twisting in the wind,” DeSantis said at a press conference in St. Petersburg.

An article published Friday in The Lancet, a medical journal, says fewer than 1 in 10 Americans have developed coronavirus antibodies.

That determination is a result of tests conducted on medical samples from 28,500 dialysis patients across the country.

The study by Stanford University and Ascend Clinical laboratory, also uncovered that the U.S. minority population has a disproportionate amount of exposure to the virus in comparison to the country’s white population.

Sixteen percent of the people who live in majority Black and Hispanic communities have developed antibodies, while 11% of people living in majority Hispanic locations had also developed the antibodies. However, only 4% of people living in white communities had the antibodies.

The U.S. has more than 7 million COVID-19 cases, followed by India with almost 6 million and Brazil with over 4.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins.