Coronavirus news: Warning over overseas travel as WHO says world heading into ‘very dark period’

A health worker pushes a trolley with oxygen cylinders in Siliguri, India, on 4 May, 2021

(EPA)

The majority of the world is heading into “a very, very dark period” of the coronavirus pandemic with cases accelerating at an alarming rate, a World Health Organisation (WHO) envoy has warned as the UK prepares to allow foreign travel again this month.

“This pandemic is fearsome and it's accelerating faster than ever and it's a global phenomenon,” Dr David Nabarro, a special envoy on Covid-19 for the WHO, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.

“There are a few countries that are able to demonstrate that they've got much lower levels of disease and they're actually feeling that they're recovering, but the majority of the world is heading into a very, very dark period.”

Meanwhile, a member of the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation warned on Wednesday that unregulated travel could be “very dangerous”, although there were ways to manage the risks.

Professor Adam Finn said plans needed to be “thought through carefully” to avoid losing the progress made over the last few months.

Read more:

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