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WHO Predicts Lengthy Pandemic; Another US Lawmaker Tests Positive

VOA News

   A MAN WALKS HIS DOG AS THE SUN SETS IN ASUNCION, PARAGUAY, AUG. 1,
   2020, AMID THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. - Seven Chinese health
   officials, the first of a 60-member team, are set to arrive in Hong
   Kong on Sunday to begin widespread COVID-19 testing in the territory.
   The global financial hub is experiencing a third wave of the
   coronavirus outbreak. Hong Kong's infection rate has been in the triple
   digits for the past 11 days.

   The coronavirus pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization on
   March 11, will be a lengthy one, the WHO said Saturday.

   Citing the likelihood of response fatigue, the health organization's
   emergency committee anticipates the COVID-19 pandemic will be long and
   the global risk level of COVID-19 very high, it said in a statement.

   So far worldwide, at least 17.7 million people have been infected and
   at least 681,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins
   University data.

   "It's sobering to think that six months ago," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom
   Ghebreyesus said before entering the meeting as it began Friday, "there
   were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China."

   In the United States, which leads the world in confirmed cases, 4.6
   million, and deaths, more than 145,000, another member of the U.S.
   Congress has tested positive for the virus.

   Rep. Raul Grijalva, 72, a Democrat from Arizona, on Saturday became at
   least the 11th member of Congress to test positive for the coronavirus.
   Grijalva is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee,
   where he sat close to Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who earlier this week
   tested positive for the virus. It is unclear where Grijalva was exposed
   to the virus, and like Gohmert, he has no symptoms.

   "While I cannot blame anyone directly for this, this week has shown
   that there are some members of Congress who fail to take this crisis
   seriously," Grijalva said in the statement. "Numerous Republican
   members routinely strut around the Capitol without a mask to selfishly
   make a political statement at the expense of their colleagues, staff,
   and their families."

   Lawmakers for the Navajo Nation, another area hit hard by the pandemic,
   passed nearly $651 million in spending to fight the coronavirus. The
   funds came from more than $714 million the tribe received as part of
   the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

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