The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is long from over, but it can be brought under control in months with proven public health measures, reported Al Jazeera.
“We too want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming, but right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying – and it’s totally avoidable,” Tedros told reporters in Geneva.
The WHO head said while the COVID19 pandemic seems far from over, there are still many reasons for optimism. He said the decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that the spread of coronavirus and its variants can be stopped.
Tedros said that many Asian and Middle East countries have reported a huge increase in the number of coronavirus cases recently, despite the fact that over 780 million doses of vaccine have already been administered globally.
The WHO head said vaccines are not the only tool to stop infections and save lives. He emphasized the need to follow public health measures that include wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, testing, contact tracing, tracking, and isolation.
Tedros expressed concern that confusion, complacency, and inconsistency in public health measures and their application are driving transmission and costing lives.
The WHO chief said that global manufacturing is not sufficient to meet the demand and deliver quick, equitable vaccines and other essential health products. He stressed that it is very important for countries across the world to invest in sustainable and secure domestic manufacturing capacity.
The coronavirus, which began in China’s Wuhan city in December 2019, has infected over 136,500,400 people and killed more than 2,944,500 people across the world so far. The United States, India, and Brazil are the top three countries with the highest number of coronavirus infections.
