Nearly a full year after COVID-19’s first detection in Wuhan, it looks like things are only getting grimmer, with one in every 10 people on the planet now estimated to have been infected at some point or another.

“Our current best estimates tell us about 10% of the global population may have been infected by this virus,” the World Health Organisation’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan announced last week, addressing the agency’s Executive Board.

“We are now heading into a difficult period,” Ryan continued, specifically mentioning a rise of deaths across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region as “cause of concern”.

“The disease continues to spread. It varies depending on country, it varies from urban to rural, it varies depending on groups. But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk.”

The United States, India, Brazil and Russia lead the pack when it comes to total number of confirmed COVID-19, with each having recorded upwards of a million cases. The USA alone has had over 8,000,000 cases.

Meanwhile in Malta, today marked a shocking milestone, with active COVID-19 cases exceeding 1,000 for the first time ever following yet another day of triple digit new daily cases. 

After months of the island only recording nine virus-related deaths, Malta has also seen a rise in patients who die after testing positive for COVID-19, with the current toll standing at 45 fatalities.

Earlier today, WHO followed up last week’s warning with an even more worrying one, saying Europe’s death count could multiple by five until January if restrictions are loosened.

Stressing the need for authorities to apply strict controls over social activities ahead of the holiday season and for protectiv. masks to be worn everywhere, WHO Europe chief Dr Hans Kluge said over 280,000 lives could be saved on the continent by February alone.

And while even WHO isn’t recommending tough lockdowns similar to what the world went through back in March, the global health organisation did not shy away from saying certain stricter measures currently being taken by some European countries are “absolutely necessary”.

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