6 months after declaring the coronavirus a global health emergency, WHO director says there may never be a 'silver bullet' for the novel coronavirus

• World Health Organization's director-general on Monday warned that there may never be a "silver bullet" for the coronavirus. 
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' statement comes six months after the world organization declared the novel virus a global health emergency. 
• Tedros warned that despite promising prospects of a vaccine, the world may still need to maintain practices it adapted during the pandemic. 
• More than 18 million coronavirus cases have been recorded worldwide with over 692,000 deaths as of publishing time.
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World Health Organization's director-general on Monday warned that there may never be a "silver bullet" for the coronavirus, six months after the agency declared the novel virus a global health emergency. 

"There's no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' said. 

"For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control: testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts," he added. 

The director-general warned that despite several vaccines entering phase 3, the world may need to keep on maintaining certain customs they adapted during the pandemic, like social distancing and wearing masks. 

As of July 31, the WHO reported six potential vaccines that are in phase 3, the stage where the vaccine is tested to see if it actually prevents disease, NPR reported. 

More than 18 million coronavirus cases have been recorded worldwide with over 692,000 deaths as of the time of publishing.

The bulk of those cases are in the US, Brazil, and India, but Tedros addressed that even countries that hadn't seen spikes in the past are now seeing an increase in cases and is warning everyone to stay vigilant. 

"Inform, empower, and listen to communities. Do it all," he said. 

The organization launched a mask challenge to challenge people to send in photos of themselves wearing a mask.

"As well as being one of the key tools to stop the virus, the mask has come to represent solidarity," Tedros said. 

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