WASHINGTON: A second wave of the novel coronavirus in the US could be even more destructive because it will likely collide with the beginning of flu season, one of the country’s top health officials said Tuesday.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called on Americans to use the coming months to prepare — and get their flu shots.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Washington Post published late Tuesday.
“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he said.
The US has recorded more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, with 44,845 deaths — the most reported of any country.
Billions of people around the world have been ordered to stay at home in recent months as governments try to prevent the highly contagious coronavirus from overwhelming health care systems.
The US, like other countries, has scrambled to secure enough ventilators and personal protection equipment for medical staff while the death toll mounts.
Redfield said the virus arrived in the US just as regular flu season — which itself can strain health care systems — was waning.
If the two diseases had peaked at the same time, he told the Post, “it could have been really, really, really, really difficult” for health systems to cope.
Getting a flu shot ahead of next flu season, he said, “may allow there to be a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that may get coronavirus.”
Coronavirus second wave may be even worse: US health chief
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Coronavirus second wave may be even worse: US health chief
- Americans called on to use the coming months to prepare – and get their flu shots
- The US has recorded more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
