China Predicts New Wave of COVID-19 by the End of 2020

By the end of 2020, a new COVID-19 outbreak could hit the world, according to predictions by a Chinese health specialist.

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"Contrary to what many think, the COVID-19 pandemic will not be over in a couple of months," Dr. Zhang Wenhong, who is leading the fight against the coronavirus in Shanghai city, in China, said recently.

The disease "could re-emerge in the late autumn. A new outbreak is very likely," the also head of the infectious disease department at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai.

The renowned doctor's thesis is that, while the United States and Europe are nearing their peak of contagion, outbreaks have only just begun in other parts of the world.

This will mean that, when some countries have overcome the outbreak, contagion will return to the flow among travelers from nations that have yet to totally defeat the COVID-19, according to the specialist.

However, "the experience gained in these months of pandemic, especially in the field of diagnosis, will make that the new outbreak of the disease will not be as "serious" as the current one," Zhang Wenhong added during an interview to the news media Caixin.

The total number of people infected with coronavirus worldwide has exceeded 1.8 million, according to the latest data provided by Johns Hopkins University. The number of deaths has reached 119,766 worldwide. 

The epicenter of COVID-19 is in the United States, with more than half a million people infected. It is followed by Spain, Italy and France in Europe.

Meanwhile, Brazil has the highest number of infections in Latin America, with 23,723 confirmed cases, followed by Peru, Chile and Ecuador.