Millions more could die in a possible second coronavirus wave, WHO official warns

Millions of people could die if the coronavirus pandemic sees a second wave of infections, a World Health Organization official warned on Friday. 

He added that the deadly outbreak has so far unfolded much like officials at WHO had anticipated, reports the CNN.

"The comparison is with the Spanish Flu, which behaved exactly like Covid: it went down in the summer and fiercely resumed in September and October, creating 50 million deaths during the second wave," Dr Ranieri Guerra, WHO assistant director-general for strategic initiatives told Italy's Rai TV.

"The pandemic is behaving as we hypothesized," he added. 

Guerra's remarks come as several countries in Europe – and across the globe – begin to relax national confinement measures, originally introduced to limit the spread of coronavirus. 

EU officials today are set to decide which countries will be subject to travel restrictions after countries reopen their borders to international travel.

With high rates of infection and mortality still being recorded in the US and parts of South America, it is expected that visitors from the region may still be subjected to travel restrictions in Europe.