The World Health Organization’s top official criticized some nations for not doing enough to detect and contain the deadly coronavirus that’s infected more than 174 000 people across the world. 

There’s been a rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases over the past week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “But we have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response. We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people, too”.

Tedros didn’t single out any one country, but state and local leaders in the U.S. have heavily criticized the Trump administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for delaying and limiting who could get tested in the U.S.

“For any country, one of the most important things is the political commitment at the highest level. All countries should be able to test all suspected cases. They cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded; they should know where the cases are”, - concluded WHO Director-General.