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The World Health Organization said Monday there are glimmers of hope in the fight against the coronavirus, even as global cases from the virus near 20 million and deaths approach 750,000, according to CNBC.

“I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference from the agency’s Geneva headquarters. “But I want to be clear, there are green shoots of hope, and no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is, it’s never too late to turn the Covid-19 outbreak around.”

Tedros said some countries in Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Rwanda and islands across the Caribbean and the Pacific were able to suppress the virus early on.

France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Italy and the U.K. had major coronavirus outbreaks and they were also able to suppress it, he said. He attributed the decline in the rate of new cases in those countries to “strong and precise” measures from leaders such as stay-at-home orders and mask mandates.

“In France, President Emmanuel Macron introduced compulsory masking in busy outdoor spaces of Paris in response to an increase in cases,” Tedros said.

He said whether countries or regions have successfully eliminated Covid-19, suppressed transmission to a low level or are still in the midst of a major outbreak, now is the time to “do it all.” “Invest in the basics of public health, and we can save both lives and livelihood,” he said.

He said his message is clear: “Suppress, suppress, suppress the virus.”

“If we suppress Covid-19 effectively, we can safely open up societies,” he said.