<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned against any complacency in the coronavirus death rate, saying with the increasing number of cases, mortality would also rise.</p>.<p>New cases are hitting 100,000 daily in Europe. Nearly 20,000 infections were reported in Britain, while Italy, Switzerland and Russia were among nations with record case numbers.</p>.<p>While deaths globally have fallen to around 5,000 per day from April's peak exceeding 7,500, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said caseloads were rising in intensive care units.</p>.<p>"Mortality increases always lag behind increasing cases by a couple of weeks," Swaminathan said during a WHO social media event. "We shouldn't be complacent that death rates are coming down."</p>.<p>More than 38 million people have been reported infected globally and 1.1 million have died.</p>.<p>Despite the global push for a Covid-19 vaccine, with dozens in clinical trials and hopes for initial inoculations this year, Swaminathan reiterated that speedy, mass shots were unlikely.</p>.<p>Two candidates, from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca's U.S. trial, are paused on safety concerns, while manufacturing billions of doses of an eventual successful vaccine will be a colossal challenge demanding hard decisions about who gets inoculated first.</p>.<p>"Most people agree, it's starting with health care workers, and front-line workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on," Swaminathan said.</p>.<p>"A healthy young person might have to wait until 2022."</p>.<p>The WHO has said letting infection spread in hopes of achieving "herd immunity" is unethical and would cause unnecessary deaths. It urges hand-washing, social distancing, masks and -- when unavoidable, limited and targeted restrictions on movements -- to control disease spread.</p>.<p>"People talk about herd immunity. We should only talk about it in the context of a vaccine," Swaminathan said. "You need to vaccinate at least 70% of people ... to really break transmission."</p>
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned against any complacency in the coronavirus death rate, saying with the increasing number of cases, mortality would also rise.</p>.<p>New cases are hitting 100,000 daily in Europe. Nearly 20,000 infections were reported in Britain, while Italy, Switzerland and Russia were among nations with record case numbers.</p>.<p>While deaths globally have fallen to around 5,000 per day from April's peak exceeding 7,500, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said caseloads were rising in intensive care units.</p>.<p>"Mortality increases always lag behind increasing cases by a couple of weeks," Swaminathan said during a WHO social media event. "We shouldn't be complacent that death rates are coming down."</p>.<p>More than 38 million people have been reported infected globally and 1.1 million have died.</p>.<p>Despite the global push for a Covid-19 vaccine, with dozens in clinical trials and hopes for initial inoculations this year, Swaminathan reiterated that speedy, mass shots were unlikely.</p>.<p>Two candidates, from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca's U.S. trial, are paused on safety concerns, while manufacturing billions of doses of an eventual successful vaccine will be a colossal challenge demanding hard decisions about who gets inoculated first.</p>.<p>"Most people agree, it's starting with health care workers, and front-line workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on," Swaminathan said.</p>.<p>"A healthy young person might have to wait until 2022."</p>.<p>The WHO has said letting infection spread in hopes of achieving "herd immunity" is unethical and would cause unnecessary deaths. It urges hand-washing, social distancing, masks and -- when unavoidable, limited and targeted restrictions on movements -- to control disease spread.</p>.<p>"People talk about herd immunity. We should only talk about it in the context of a vaccine," Swaminathan said. "You need to vaccinate at least 70% of people ... to really break transmission."</p>