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Dr. Anthony Fauci described COVID-19 as his "worst nightmare" while speaking Tuesday to a biotechnology industry executives, according to a media report.
"In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world. ... And it isn't over yet," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a report in The New York Times. He spoke remotely during a conference held by BIO, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the Times reported.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus, a contagious respiratory infection that has so far sickened more than 7 million people worldwide, and killed more than 408,000.
Fauci said the speed at which the disease moved around the globe was surprising, saying an efficiently transmitted disease can spread worldwide in six to 12 months, according to the paper.
"This took a month," he said, according to the Times.
Also Tuesday, Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization (WHO) technical lead on the COVID-19 outbreak, tried to clear up clear up "misunderstandings" regarding her comments on asymptomatic transfer of the disease.
On Monday, Van Kerkhove made comments that had been understood to suggest that transmission of the coronavirus by infected people who show no symptoms was rare.
Van Kerkhove cited "some estimates" that found between six and 40 percent of the population of transmission may be due to asymptomatic transmission, according to an Associated Press report.
On Tuesday, she said she was referring to a few studies, not a complete picture.
"What I was referring to yesterday were very few studies - some two or three studies that have been published - that actually try to follow asymptomatic cases," she said, according to AP.
Meanwhile, New Zealanders gathered at restaurants and cafes Tuesday to celebrate the official end of their long coronavirus quarantine period.
After more than two months of restrictions that brought everyday life to a standstill, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lowered the four-tiered lockdown system first imposed in March to its lowest tier, scrapping all virus-related restrictions on public gatherings, including sports and weddings, while keeping New Zealand's borders closed to international travel.
New Zealand has had a total of 1,504 confirmed coronavirus infections with 22 deaths out of 5 million citizens, according to the Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 dashboard. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Despite the return of normal life within its borders, Antarctica New Zealand, the government agency responsible for carrying out environmental research on the continent, said Tuesday it will cut back research visits to its Antarctica base to prevent spreading COVID-19 outside the country.
Separately, a new study has found that lockdowns across the globe prevented millions of deaths from the novel coronavirus. Imperial College London says lockdowns and closing nonessential businesses and schools may have saved about 3 million lives in 11 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
A separate study in the United States concluded that lockdowns in China, France, Iran, Italy, South Korea, and the U.S. prevented another 530 million COVID-19 cases.
According to the latest figures from U.S.-based Johns Hopkins, the number of COVID-19 infections worldwide now stands at 7,142,462 confirmed cases, with 407,009 deaths. The United States is the leader in both categories, with total infections at 1,961,187 and more than 111,000 confirmed deaths.
Following the U.S. with the most coronavirus infections is Brazil, with 707,412 confirmed cases. The South American country's 37,134 deaths are the world's third-highest after the U.S. and Britain, which now stands at 40,680.
Richard Green and Mia Bush contributed to this report.