As global cases of Covid-19 increase for the seventh week, WHO calls for ‘reality check’

As global cases of Covid-19 increase for the seventh week, WHO calls for ‘reality check’

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Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical leader for the response to coronavirus, said that 4.4 million Covid-19 infections were recorded worldwide last week and expressed concern about world trends.

“This is not the situation where we want to be in a pandemic within 16 months, where we have proven controls. It is time for everyone to do a reality check on what we need to do,” van Kerkhove said in a newsletter. Monday.

Several countries in Asia and the Middle East have experienced a large increase in cases, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, said that ‘confusion, complacency and inconsistency in social measures’ were primary drivers.

The increases occur despite the fact that more than 780 million doses of vaccine are administered worldwide.

Ghebreyesus emphasized that social measures – wearing masks, physical distance, ventilation, hand hygiene, supervision, testing, detection and isolation – work to stop infections and save lives. “It takes a consistent, coordinated and comprehensive approach,” he said.

In India, the highest infection rates were recorded in the past week, as the country with almost 1.4 billion people continues to offer one of the world’s fastest vaccinations.
The country reported 161,736 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, a slight drop after six consecutive days of record rises in one day, according to a CNN number from the Indian Ministry of Health. India’s total property tax stands at more than 13.5 million – the second after the United States and Brazil – including nearly 170,000 deaths.
India’s total property tax stands at more than 13.5 million – the second after the United States and Brazil – including nearly 170,000 deaths.

Iran, which has the most cases and deaths in the Middle East, entered its fourth wave of the pandemic last week, the country’s health ministry said last week.

The country’s total number of Covid-19 cases has exceeded 2 million since the start of the pandemic, with more than 4,200 patients currently hospitalized in the ICU, a Health Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

More than 4,200 patients are currently being hospitalized in Iranian ICUs and on Saturday, the government imposed a ten-day detention in most of the country.

Covid-19 is out of control in Brazil. Why do some officials relax restrictive measures?
In Brazil, coronavirus cases are getting out of control; 4195 people were recorded dead within 24 hours last Tuesday, the deadliest day of the pandemic in the country. While the state of Sao Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro are one of the worst in the country for deaths in Covid-19, both eased restrictions on movement on Monday.

Sao Paulo authorities justified the reopening of schools, sporting events and construction shops by pointing out that occupancy rates in intensive care units in the state had dropped from 90.5% to 88.6%.

“This measure clearly shows that the effort made in recent weeks is beginning to yield results,” Vice Governor Rodrigo Garcia told a news conference on April 9. But the daily numbers are still very serious – on Friday alone, the state registered 20,000 new cases.

Meanwhile, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the occupancy rate of the ICU is higher at 92%, but Mayor Eduardo Paes nevertheless decided to ease the restrictions by saying that ‘our reality is not allowed to be locked up’ during a press conference on Friday. . that store owners and the general population suffer economically from such measures. Still, he said, “This is no time to relax.”

Europe’s third wave

In Europe, many countries are navigating in the wake of a worrying third wave, and a more contagious variant of the virus appears to be the general culprit behind the chaos in Europe.

Two new studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, first identified in the UK, is more transmissible, but does not appear to affect the severity of disease in anyone receiving Covid-19 not. The new findings clash with separate research previously suggesting the variant may be linked to a higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

According to the director of the German Intensive Care Association, who warned on Saturday, the director of the German Intensive Care Association in Germany on Saturday reached an increase in cases, and the occupancy of the ICU bed reached a peak. numbers will increase for the next 10-14 days.

Last month, critics warned that coronavirus restrictions in Europe came too late and that the problems of the current continents could be traced back to politicians who were too eager to start loosening.

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the urgent need for people to be vaccinated to break the third wave.

Boris Johnson can emerge from the pandemic that smells of roses
Meanwhile, England lifted restrictions after more than three months of closure on Monday, in a move that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was a ‘big step forward’ for the country’s ‘roadmap to freedom’.

As part of ‘Step 2’ in the country’s closure, non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and zoos will be included again, as well as outdoor areas with bars and restaurants.

The British government said on Monday that the lifting of measures coincided with the achievement of the Covid-19 vaccination target to offer a dose to all adults over 50.

A total of about 40 million vaccines have now been given in the UK, and adults under the age of 50 are expected to start inviting in the coming days.

CNN’s Marcia Reverdosa, Rodrigo Pedroso, Maija Ehlinger, Rishabh M Pratap, Vedika Sud and Esha Mitra contributed to this report.

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