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GENEVA, Aug 22 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The coronavirus crisis in Brazil appears to be leveling off, if not easing, the World Health Organization said, offering a glimpse of light for the world’s second-biggest COVID-19 hot spot.

The number of weekly infections detected have stabilized, transmissions are slowing, and intensive care units are under less pressure, Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, told a news conference in Geneva.

GENEVA, August 15. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world exceeded 21.02 mln, having increased by more than 294,000 in 24 hours - record figure during the pandemic. According to data released on Saturday by the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of deaths increased by almost 10,000 and exceeded 755,000.

As of 11:00 Moscow time on August 15, 21,026,758 cases and 755,786 deaths were registered in the world. The number of cases increased by 294,237 per day, the number of deaths increased by 9,985.

GENEVA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior expert of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that although there are some cases suggesting that an individual may have been re-infected with COVID-19, it's still not confirmed.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 response at the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a virtual press conference that some people can have PCR (polymerase chain reaction) positivity for many weeks, not just days, and it doesn't necessarily mean that they are infectious for that long.

GENEVA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Although the first clusters of atypical pneumonia were reported in Wuhan, China, it doesn't necessarily mean that is where the COVID-19 disease crossed from animals into humans, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Monday.

Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said at a routine COVID-19 briefing on Monday that a much more "extensive retrospective epidemiological study" should be taken to fully understand the links between the cases.

GENEVA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that he will reconvene the Emergency Committee on Thursday to re-evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic, as global COVID-19 cases had doubled over the past six weeks.

Saying that this Thursday (July 30) marks six months since Jan. 30 when WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, Tedros told a virtual press conference that almost 16 million cases have now been reported to WHO, with more than 640,000 deaths worldwide.

GENEVA, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said.

WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the virus’ spread, said Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.

GENEVA, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said.

WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the virus’ spread, said Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.

GENEVA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has passed 14 million globally as of Sunday morning, the World Health Organization's dashboard showed.

The WHO has received reports of 14,007,791 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 597,105 deaths as of 10:35 a.m. CEST (0835 GMT) Sunday.

A record high of 259,848 cases were registered on Satuday, according to the organization's daily situation update.

The United States reported the largest single-day rise of 71,484 confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections to 3,544,143.

GENEVA, July 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The new coronavirus outbreak in hard-hit Brazil has plateaued, the World Health Organization said, urging the country to seize the opportunity to drive down transmission.

“The rise in Brazil is no longer exponential, it has plateaued,” WHO health emergencies chief Michael Ryan told a virtual news conference.

Brazil is the second worst virus affected country in the world after the United States, counting nearly 77,000 deaths and more than two million cases.

18 July 2020; MEMO: A UN human rights expert today published a report urging Israel to immediately stop all crimes amounting to collective punishment against the Palestinian people.