Coronavirus infections in Brazil no longer appear to be rising exponentially but have reached a plateau, creating an opportunity to get the outbreak there under control.
That is according to World Health Organization emergencies programme chief Mike Ryan.
He told a news briefing that the R number - the number of people each infected person goes on to infect - now appeared to be between 0.5 and 1.5 across states in Brazil.
The number of new cases was plateauing at 40,000 to 45,000 per day.
"The virus is not doubling itself in the community as it was before, so the rise is not exponential," he said. But there was "absolutely no guarantee that it will go down by itself".
Mr Ryan warned that Covid-19 poses a "global economic and political threat" until it is brought under control.
He also confirmed that the WHO is forming a team of international experts to go to China to study the origins of the novel coronavirus, but they will not be in place before the end of July.
A two-person WHO advance team has been in China for a week preparing for the visit of the larger team.
Mr Ryan said the health body was "very pleased" with the collaboration from Chinese officials so far - but setting up and deploying the larger team would take time.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, said patients with Covid-19 develop an immune response but "we do not know how strong that protection is or how long it will last".
Earlier today, Brazil passed the two million confirmed coronavirus cases mark with anger growing over President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the outbreak.
Just 27 days have passed since Brazil ..
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