Dr. Michael Ryan(L), executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program, addresses a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 18, 2020. (Photo by Chen Junxia/Xinhua)

"We do not know yet what the activity or behavior of the virus will be in different climatic conditions," said Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, warning against the assumption that the virus would just disappear on its own in the summertime like influenza.

GENEVA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- There is no evidence right now suggesting COVID-19 will disappear in summer, a senior expert of World Health Organization (WHO) said here Friday, urging countries to fight the new virus decisively at current stage.

"We do not know yet what the activity or behavior of the virus will be in different climatic conditions," Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a daily briefing, warning against the assumption that the virus would just disappear on its own in the summertime like influenza.

"We have to assume the virus will continue to have the capacity to spread," he said.

Besides, Ryan stressed disease can emerge anywhere on the planet, for instance, Ebola very often emerged in Africa, while the last pandemic influenza H1N1 emerged in North America.

He called on countries and societies to avoid "blame culture" and to do all the things needed to save lives. ■