WASHINGTON - The US top infectious disease Dr. Anthony Fauci offered a grim assessment of the pandemic, describing the coronavirus as his “worst nightmare” and warning that “it isn’t over yet.”
In a remote interview for a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Dr. Fauci said though he had known that an outbreak like this could occur, one aspect surprised him: “how rapidly it just took over the planet.”
“In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world,” Dr. Fauci told biotech executives during a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. “And it isn’t over yet.”
His discussion with a moderator was conducted remotely and videotaped for conference participants. Although Dr. Fauci said he had known that an outbreak like this could occur, one aspect surprised him: “how rapidly it just took over the planet.”
An efficiently transmitted disease can spread worldwide in six months or a year, but “this took about a month,” Dr. Fauci said. He attributed the rapid spread to the contagiousness of the virus and extensive world travel by infected people.
Vaccines are widely regarded as the best hope of stopping or at least slowing the pandemic, and Dr. Fauci said he was “almost certain” that more than one would be successful. Several are already being tested in people, and at least one is expected to move into large, Phase 3 trials in July.
But much is still unknown about the disease and how it attacks the body, research that Dr. Fauci described as “a work in progress.” Another looming question, he said, was whether survivors who were seriously ill would fully recover.
The virus has already sickened more than 7 million people worldwide and killed at least 405,400, according to a New York Times database.
The Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday that 3.3 million people in the Americas had been infected with the virus.
In India, health experts are warning of a looming shortage of hospital beds and doctors to treat patients as the country grapples with a sharp surge of infections. India reported 10,000 new infections in the last 24 hours, for a total of at least 266,500, and has surpassed Spain to become one of the five countries with the highest caseloads.
Moscow’s tough lockdown ended abruptly on Tuesday as a nationwide vote on extending President Vladimir V. Putin’s rule loomed. The Russian capital continues to report more than 1,000 new virus cases a day.
Here’s what else is happening around the world:
- The president of the United Nations General Assembly said Monday that world leaders would not come to New York for their annual gathering in September, a first in the U.N.’s 75-year history.
- The British government on Tuesday abandoned plans to bring back all primary school students before the summer holidays. The Department of Education had aimed for all primary schoolchildren to spend four weeks in school before the summer holidays, but many schools have said they are already full and cannot accommodate more children safely.
- The Hong Kong government is bailing out Cathay Pacific Airways by injecting nearly $4 billion and taking a direct stake in its operations.
- Residents of Spain will have to continue to wear face masks even after the country officially lifts its state of emergency on June 21, the health minister, Salvador Illa, announced Tuesday, as the government presented its “new normalcy” plan. Citizens must “learn to cohabit with the virus” and maintain hygiene rules “until we conclusively defeat the virus,” Mr. Illa told a news conference.
- In France, where the virus has killed over 29,000 people, the Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into dozens of complaints over the authorities’ response to the coronavirus epidemic. The investigation will focus on complaints against officials or institutions on issues like mask shortages to determine if any crimes were committed. But neither President Emmanuel Macron, who is immune to prosecution, nor his government are targets.
- Antarctica remains the only continent that has not reported any cases of the virus. In an effort to keep it that way, Antarctica New Zealand, the government agency responsible for carrying out New Zealand’s activities on the continent, will cut back on research trips, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
