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GENEVA — Coronavirus can sicken or kill young people, who must also avoid mingling and spreading it to older and more vulnerable people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told a virtual press conference: “Today I have a message for young people: You are not invincible, this virus could put you in hospital for weeks or even kill you. Even if you don’t get sick the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else.”

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Amid shortages of protective gear for health workers and diagnostic tests, “air bridges” will be needed to bring supplies to countries for vital health workers, the WHO’s top emergency expert Dr. Mike Ryan said.

The WHO has distributed 1.5 million lab tests worldwide and it may need potentially 80 times that for the pandemic, he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)