The leader of the World Health Organization (WHO) says the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is “far from over,” adding that he is “deeply concerned” about the impact of the disruption of normal health services, Reuters reports.

“We have a long road ahead of us and a lot of work to do,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

At the same time, Vox reports, the pandemic is crushing American primary care physicians and their associates financially.

“Doctors and other health care providers have seen a precipitous drop in the routine visits they depend on for revenue, and experts fear many offices will have to close,” Vox says. “Meanwhile, patients with chronic conditions are facing hardships because they can’t see their regular physician to get routine care.”

Bob Doherty, senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy for the American College of Physicians, told Vox that “many primary care practices are in critical condition,” while adding that the “real worry” is if  “eight weeks from now, hundreds of primary care physicians are shuttering their practices.”

Speaking in Geneva, the WHO’s Tedros said he and his staffers are especially concerned about pandemic trends in Africa, eastern Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, where border restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus also hold up vaccines and medications for other diseases.

The World Health Organization held a coronavirus press briefing today. Dr. Tedros says the pandemic is "far from over," and is worried about children.https://t.co/moEfNDM8Fs

— Rev Transcripts (@RevTranscripts) April 27, 2020

“The number of malaria cases in sub-Saharan Africa could double,” he said. “That doesn’t have to happen, we are working with countries to support them.”

In the U.S., Covid-19 “has exposed many weaknesses,” including vulnerabilities in the health care system, Vox says. “In a nation that already trailed other rich countries in access to health care, America’s primary care is imperiled by this pandemic — now and in the future.”

Harvard researchers conducted a study with Phreesia, a health care technology firm that works with more than 50,000 providers nationwide to assess the coronavirus impact. 

“Their findings … suggest an unparalleled crisis: Overall outpatient visits plummeted nearly 60% from the first week of March to the last,” Vox says, quoting Ateev Mehrotra, a Harvard Medical School professor who led the study.

“Within my lifetime, I have not seen anything of this magnitude,” Mehrotra said.