The COVID pandemic is "definitely not over": WHO Director-General
Key Takeaways:
- Despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the Omicron wave, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan emphasised on Sunday that the COVID-19 outbreak is "certainly not over."
- At the World Health Assembly, the WHO's annual meeting of member countries, Tedros is expected to be re-elected for a second five-year term.
Despite a drop in reported cases since the peak of the Omicron wave, the World Health Organization's director-general warned Sunday that the COVID-19 epidemic is "definitely not ended." "We lower our guard at our peril," he warned governments.
"Declining testing through sequencing means we are exposing ourselves to the virus's evolution," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the UN's director-general, warned officials gathering in Geneva for the beginning of the WHO's annual meeting. He also mentioned that almost a billion individuals in low-income countries are still unvaccinated.
The number of new COVID-19 cases seems to have steadied after weeks of fall since late March, according to WHO's the weekly update on the global situation, which also revealed that the overall number of weekly deaths has decreased.
While there has been progressing, with 60 percent of the world's population vaccinated, Tedros stated that "it's not done until it's over everywhere."
"In a world where testing rates have fallen, reported cases are increasing in nearly 70 nations across all regions," he noted.
According to him, reported deaths are increasing in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccine coverage, with only 57 nations (almost all of them wealthy) having immunized 70% of their populations.
While the global vaccine supply has increased, he said some nations have "insufficient political commitment to roll out vaccines," and others have "operational or financial capability" limitations.
"Misinformation and deception are driving vaccine hesitancy," Tedros stated. "The epidemic will not vanish on its own, but we can put a stop to it."
Tedros is anticipated to be re-elected to a second five-year term at the World Health Assembly, the WHO's annual conference of member countries.