Fact Check: Did WHO chief say COVID-19 is no where near us?

New Delhi, July 14: COVID-19 is very much around and it is not yet time to let your guard down.

However there has been a lot of misinformation that has done the rounds ever since the outbreak of the pandemic.

A quote by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been doing the rounds on the social media. While attributing the quote to the chief of the World Health Organisation, the quote says, ' COVID-19 is no where near us.

OneIndia has learnt that this quote being attributed to the WHO chief is false. In fact he has said exactly the opposite of what is being attributed to him. When we searched for the exact quote, we found that Ghebreyesus had said, ' new waves of the virus demonstrate again that Covid-19 is nowhere near over." He further said during a press conference on July 12 that the "virus is running freely, and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity, in terms of both hospitalisation for acute cases and the expanding number of people with the post-Covid-19 condition, often referred to as long-Covid.'

He also said that there is a disconnect in the disease's risk perception between the scientific communities, political leaders and the general public. He also said that it is a dual challenge of communicating risk and building community trust in health tools and public health social measures such as masking, distancing and ventilation.

This makes is clear that the WHO chief's words were twisted out of context. In fact the viral claim on the social media is exactly the opposite as to what the WHO chief said.