Increasing number of coronavirus cases in the Russia and the U.S. as most countries ease restrictions after containing virus

GENEVA – As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, the Russian Federation has now recorded more than 145,000 confirmed cases and the U.S. passes 69,000 deaths.

At a time when several European countries have begun to ease restrictive measures, Moscow, the epicenter of the epidemic in Russia witnessing half of the country’s confirmed cases, has called on residents to stay in their homes.

“We’re in the middle of the fight of our lives – all of us around the world,” said Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergencies Program, in a press conference on Sunday. “There’s going to be a significant and extended risk until we reach a point where we have a safe and effective vaccine available to all.”

The situation is still very serious, but the pattern of disease and path of the virus are very different in different parts of the world now, and some countries, including China, South Korea, New Zealand and others, have reached “a stable state” in relation to the coronavirus outbreak, Ryan said.

Europe is beginning to figure out how to emerge from extreme states of social and economic lockdown in the hardest hit regions after successfully containing the virus.

After months of being stuck at home, people in Italy and Spain were finally beginning to enjoy the relaxation of coronavirus measures.

According to Ryan, this showed “not that the virus can be beaten absolutely, but that we can reach a point where we have enough control over the virus that our social and economic lives can begin again.”

The United States, while similarly getting ready to emerge from various degrees of restriction, has not yet managed to get the outbreak of the virus under control. Despite strong measures being taken in the hard-hit northeast, national numbers of new cases have not decreased