The novel coronavirus pandemic is at a very dangerous stage at the moment, despite the global community’s successes in fighting it, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
“While we have progressed in controlling the pandemic, it remains in a very dangerous phase,” the WHO. chief said at a meeting of the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council.
“[In the current situation], the only way out is to support countries in the equitable distribution of PPE [personal protective equipment], tests, treatments and vaccines,” he continued.
Ghebreyesus added that states with sufficient instruments to fight the novel coronavirus have already started to ease pandemic-related restrictions.
“Meanwhile, countries without access to sufficient supplies are facing waves of hospitalizations and deaths,” he added.
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The WHO director general also raised the issue during another event on Tuesday, while attending the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) High-Level Political Forum. In his address, Ghebreyesus noted” steep epidemic” in African, Asian and American countries.
“In fact, these cases and deaths are largely avoidable,” he said, calling upon the global community to use all the tools at their disposal to prevent transmission.
According to Ghebreyesus, the pandemic demonstrated that “relying on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and risky.”
“We have to learn the lessons of Covid-19, to prepare for the next one,” he said.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named Covid-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
Global Covid-19 incidence rises 3% over week
More than 2.68 million coronavirus cases and around 54,000 deaths were registered last week in the world by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO). Compared to the previous week, the incidence has increased by 3%, while the death rate has decreased by 7% and reached its lowest level since October last year, the WHO headquarters in Geneva said on Wednesday.
From June 26 to July 4, 2,688,651 cases were detected in the world, as well as 53,958 deaths.
As of Wednesday, there were a total of 185,627,602 cases and 4,013,009 patient deaths, according to Worldometer.
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The highest number of new cases over the week was reported by Brazil (364,709), followed by India (312,250), Colombia (204,556), Indonesia (168,780), and the United Kingdom (161,805). The highest incidence rate was recorded in the Seychelles (758 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Mongolia (472), Colombia (402), Namibia (367), and Cyprus (324).
The incidence rate decreased over the week in the South and North America (13%). At the same time, growth was seen in Europe (by 30%), Africa (by 15%), the Eastern Mediterranean (by 11%), the Western Pacific region (by 10%), and Southeast Asia (by 7%). Mortality rates rose particularly strongly in Africa (by 23%). A decrease in the number of deaths was noted in Southeast Asia (by 12%) and the Americas (by 11%).
In Europe, in seven days, more than 505,000 people were infected, and more than 6,000 died. In the Americas reported more than 990,000 new cases, and more than 26,000 deaths were recorded. In Southeast Asia, doctors identified more than 612,000 cases, more than 11,000 people died.
