GENEVA (Reuters) – Confusion and complacency about addressing COVID-19 means the pandemic is far from over, but it can be brought under control within months with proven public health measures, said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , Said Monday.
To date, approximately 780 million vaccines have been administered worldwide, but measures such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distance must be applied to stop the orbit.
“We also want to see societies and economies reopen, and travel and trade resumed,” Tedros said in a newsletter.
“But right now, intensive care units are overflowing in many countries and people are dying – and that can be completely avoided.”
‘The COVID19 pandemic is far from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decrease in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped, ”he added.
Dissemination was driven by ‘confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures’.
India has overtaken Brazil to become the country with the second highest number of infections worldwide after the United States, as it fights a massive second wave, with about 105 million doses of vaccine among a population of 1.4 billion.
“We are now at a critical point in the pandemic. The trajectory of this pandemic is growing for the 7th consecutive week,” said WHO team leader on COVID-19, Maria van Kerkhove.
Noting that there was a 9% increase in cases last week, the seventh consecutive week of increases and a 5% increase in deaths, she added: ‘If you look at the epi (epidemic) curve and the trajectory of the pandemic right now is growing exponentially ”.
Tedros said restaurants and nightclubs in some countries were full and that the markets were open and crowded with few people taking precautions.
“Some people seem to take the approach that if they are relatively young, it does not matter if they get COVID-19,” he said.
Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and Stephanie Nebehay, edited by William Maclean