Cases are on the rise due to the relaxation of social health measures, the proliferation of variants and ‘people abandoning their hats’, says WHO Director-General.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of new coronavirus infections had risen worldwide for the first time in seven weeks last week.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an information session in Geneva that the increase in business was “disappointing but not surprising”, noting that the upward trend was taking place all over the world, except Africa and the West Pacific region.
“Some of it seems to be due to the relaxation of public health measures, the constant proliferation of variants and people abandoning their hats,” he said.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical leader for COVID-19 at the United Nations Health Agency, in turn described the increase as a serious warning to all of us, before adding: ‘This virus will recover if we allow it – and we can not allow it. ”
To date, there have been more than 114 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 2.5 million related deaths and 64.5 million recoveries, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, Tedros said it was too early for governments to just count on vaccination programs and abandon other measures to fight the disease.
‘If countries rely only on vaccines, they are making a mistake. “Basic measures for public health remain the basis of the response,” said Tedros.
However, he said it was encouraging that vaccines were eventually being given to medical staff in poorer countries, including the West African countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
The two countries were the first to vaccinate people on Monday with doses provided by COVAX, the international program to provide vaccines to poor and middle-income countries.
The WHO chief also criticized rich countries for storing vaccine doses, saying it was in everyone’s interest to protect vulnerable people around the world.
“It is unfortunate that it comes almost three months after some of the richest countries started their vaccinations,” Tedros said.
“Some countries continue to prioritize vaccinating younger, healthier adults at lower risk for disease in their own populations, ahead of health workers and older people elsewhere.”
By the end of May, 237 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be ready for distribution in 142 poorer countries.
Mike Ryan, the WHO’s biggest emergency expert, said that the global fight against the coronavirus was now in a better state than ten weeks ago before the introduction of vaccines began. But it was too early to tell if the virus was under control.
‘The problem is that we control the virus and that the virus controls us. And at the moment, the virus is very much in control. ”