The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is cautioning the world not to become complacent as the number of COVID-19 cases begins to flatten in some nations.
Many countries which were hotspots for the deadly respiratory illness - such as Spain and Italy - are readying plans to start easing nationwide lockdown restrictions.
The WHO has previously acknowledged nations' desires to lift the strict physical distancing rules and restart economies, but consistently warned such decisions must be made on the basis of health advice. The organisation has laid out six criteria for countries to consider when making the decision, such as whether transmission is controlled.
On Thursday, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said different countries are at different phases of fighting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. While those in Western Europe are seeing the cases stabilise or decline, others in Africa, Central and South America and Eastern Europe are experiencing an upwards trend.
"Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics. And some that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases," he said.
"Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time."
He called the virus "dangerous" and said as much of the world's population remains susceptible epidemics "can easily reignite".
"One of the greatest dangers we face now is complacency. People in countries with stay-at-home orders are understandably frustrated with being confined to their homes for weeks on end," Dr Ghebreyesus said.
"People understandably want to get on with their lives, because their lives and livelihoods are at stake. That's what WHO wants too. And that's what we are working for, all day, every day. But the world will not and cannot go back to the way things were."
The world will have to get used to a "new normal", Dr Ghebreyesus said, where the public health measures imposed and encouraged since the beginning of the pandemic "remain the backbone of the response in all countries".
That includes finding, isolating, testing and caring for every case of COVID-19 while tracing and quarantining every contact. He also said the education and empowerment of citizens was key to maintaining their participation in these efforts.
Dr Ghebreyesus said "there's no question" that stay-at-home orders and other physical distancing measures "have successfully suppressed transmission in many countries".
New Zealand may be one of them. Over the course of its four-week lockdown, the nation has gone from being at risk of a similar trajectory to countries like Italy - which have seen tens of thousands of cases and deaths - to only reporting five cases on Tuesday.
On Monday, in announcing New Zealand's lockdown would be lifted next week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country's efforts had "broken the chain of transmission and taken a quantum leap forward in our goal to eliminate the virus". The country's Director-General of Health also expressed confidence there was no widespread undetected community transmission occurring.
Whereas New Zealand's control of transmission and tough border measures to keep new cases out makes elimination possible, most other nations are striving to simply contain the virus or mitigate its impacts. That means those nations may either have to leave some form of tough restrictions in place for many months or jump in and out of lockdown until a vaccine is developed.
New Zealand has recorded 1451 cases of the virus and 14 deaths. Worldwide, there are 2.6 million reported cases, with 180,000 having died.
