WHO chief sees "green shoots of hope" in global fight against Covid-19August 10, 2020 - 17:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The world is witnessing “green shoots of hope” in its battle against Covid-19, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said, according to The Independent. In the WHO’s daily media briefing, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus began by noting the scale of the coronavirus pandemic, with 20 million confirmed cases and 750,000 deaths expected by the end of this week. However, he added that there were reasons to be hopeful in the global fight against the disease. “I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world,” Dr Tedros said. “But I want to be clear, there are green shoots of hope and no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is – it’s never too late to turn the Covid-19 outbreak around.” The health chief praised New Zealand as a “global exemplar” for its response to the pandemic, after the country celebrated 100 days with no community transmission of Covid-19 on Sunday. Dr Tedros also praised UK PM Boris Johnson for his government’s decision to implement local lockdowns in the UK and France’s Emmanuel Macron for the introduction of compulsory face-masks in some outdoor areas in Paris. “Over the last few days, UK prime minister Boris Johnson put areas of northern England under stay at home notifications as clusters of cases were identified,” he said. There are now more than 19.8 million cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide, including over 12 million recoveries and 731,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking figures from the World Health Organization and additional sources. Photo. AFP/Getty Images Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. Azerbaijan razes historic Armenian church to ground Azerbaijan has demolished the historic Armenian Church of St. John the Baptist (known as Kanach Zham). Russia to begin assessing migrant workers' speaking skills Rosobrnadzor is planning to change the Russian language exam for migrant workers and include an assessment of speaking skills |