WHO warns of risks of COVID-19 explosion in South Asia's densely-populated region

World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that as COVID-19 cases keep growing in South Asia, there are risks of disease explosion in the densely-populated region.

"Particularly in South Asia, not just in India, but in Bangladesh... and in Pakistan and other countries in South Asia with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded, but there is always the risk of that happening," Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said during a press conference in Geneva.

"And as the disease generates and gets a foothold in communities, it can accelerate at anytime," he added.

"The number of cases in India has been going up by an average of a third per week, so probably the doubling time of the epidemic in India is about three weeks at this stage. So the direction of travel of the epidemic is not exponential, but it is still growing," he said.

Ryan said the measures taken in India "certainly had an impact in dampening transmission, and as India, as in other large countries open up and as people begin to move again, there's always a risk of the disease bouncing back up."

"I think the important thing is to really keep track of the the growth rate, the doubling time of the virus and make sure that that doesn't get worse," said WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan.

As India is a "heterogeneous and huge country with very densely populated cities," Swaminathan said it's important to wear face coverings.