As case counts fall, WHO chief warns "Covid isn't finished"

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The brand of the World Well being Group is seen on the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, June 11, 2009. The World Well being Group chief on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022 says 90 million circumstances of coronavirus have been reported for the reason that omicron variant was first recognized 10 weeks in the past, amounting to greater than in all of 2020, the primary 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. (AP Picture/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

GENEVA — The top of the World Well being Group insisted Wednesday that “Covid is not completed with us,” interesting for extra assist to battle the pandemic after his company reported that new infections fell however virus deaths rose worldwide over the previous week.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, launching a brand new $23 billion marketing campaign to fund WHO’s efforts to guide a good rollout of Covid-19 exams, remedies and vaccines all over the world, cautioned that “illnesses know no borders” and the highly-transmissible omicron variant has proven that “any feeling of security can change in a second.”

WHO’s weekly epidemiological report, launched late Tuesday, confirmed that case counts fell 17% worldwide during the last week — together with a 50% decline in the USA — whereas deaths globally rose 7%.

“Relying on the place you reside, it’d really feel just like the Covid-19 pandemic is nearly over, or, it’d really feel like it’s at its worst,” Tedros stated. “However wherever you reside, Covid isn’t completed with us.”

“We all know this virus will proceed to evolve, however we’re not defenseless,” he added. “We’ve got the instruments to forestall this illness, take a look at for it and to deal with it.”

Omicron, which is extra contagious than different variants however has usually introduced less-severe illness, made up almost 97% of all circumstances tallied by the worldwide virus-tracking platform generally known as GISAID. Simply over 3% have been of the delta variant.

In all, WHO reported greater than 19 million new Covid-19 circumstances and slightly below 68,000 new deaths from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6. Specialists say the figures are believed to drastically underestimate the actual toll from the pandemic.

Case counts fell in every of WHO’s six areas besides its jap Mediterranean zone, which reported a 36% bounce, notably with will increase in Afghanistan, Iran and Jordan.

In Europe, new infections fell 7% — led by substantial declines in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain — whilst international locations in Japanese Europe like Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia posted will increase in every day infections. Within the Americas, case counts fell 36%, with the USA — nonetheless the only most-affected nation — reporting 1.87 million new circumstances, down 50% from the earlier week.

Vaccines gave the impression to be simplest to forestall extreme illness from omicron. The company stated booster doses elevated estimates of vaccine effectiveness to over 75% for all vaccines for which knowledge can be found, although the charges declined after three to 6 months after injection.

WHO, bringing collectively leaders like South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in addition to well being ministers, led a pitch on Wednesday for brand new funding for its ACT-Accelerator program to get Covid-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to individuals all over the world.

“If you wish to guarantee vaccinations for everybody to finish this pandemic, we should first inject equity into the system,” U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres stated. ”Vaccine inequity is the most important ethical failure of our instances, and folks and international locations are paying the value.”

Ramaphosa stated wealthy international locations have administered 14 instances extra doses of life-saving vaccines and carried out 80 instances extra exams than have low-income international locations. In Africa, he stated, simply 8% of persons are totally vaccinated. Whereas many rich international locations roll out third and even fourth booster doses, he famous that many weak well being employees and aged individuals in Africa “stay unprotected.”

“The tip of this pandemic is in sight, however provided that we act collectively for fairness, and for solidarity,” he stated.

The enchantment comes as many wealthy Western international locations — key donors for WHO — have been easing restrictions to battle the pandemic after Covid-19 circumstances have begun falling.

“Let’s be sincere. It’s not self-evident that that leaders within the North — for those who put it that manner, will reply” to assist international efforts to battle Covid-19, Gahr Støre stated. However he pushed for “advocacy” to indicate leaders that “it’s actually of their curiosity to decide on to remain dedicated and be engaged.”

“If we’ve got some type of sleepwalking out of a shortsighted view in your nationwide omicron problem, across the subsequent nook, you could be very badly shocked,” he stated, directing feedback to officers in rich nations. (AP)