Last week, about 40 percent of the deaths around the world due to the epidemic occurred in some areas of the American continent.
In Asia, SARS-CoV-2 infections are spreading very quickly, with dire consequences.
Danger from the east
India has broken records and is recording The number of Covid-19 cases per day is the same as the total for the rest of the world. There are 24 million cases and at least 160,000 have already died from Covid-19. On Friday, the country began receiving the first batches of thousands of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines.
Countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Egypt are also seeing increases in the number of cases and hospitalizations for Covid-19.Tedros Gebresus stressed.
Japan, still relatively unaffected by the epidemic, has prolonged the state of emergency in many regions, less than 10 weeks after the Olympics. Activists have already obtained 350,000 signatures in a petition calling for the games to be canceled.
Taiwan, which so far is a global model in fighting epidemics with only 1,290 recorded cases and 12 deaths, will close its doors from Saturday, without a reopening date, and many entertainment venues, including cafes and bars, as well as libraries and sports centers, due to The outbreak is an emerging issue among pilots.
Donate vaccines instead of vaccinating young people
The richer countries have managed to control the epidemic thanks to universal vaccination And to begin to restart their economies, especially tourism.
Unfortunately, the WHO chief said, only 0.3 percent of vaccines produced globally were directed at low-income countries.“In January, I spoke of a potential moral disaster, and unfortunately this is now happening,” with vaccines being distributed “by dropper,” Tedros Ghebreyesus lamented.
The impossibility of enforcing and controlling restrictions, the lack of testing of millions of people in these countries and the low economic and health levels in which they live also create ideal conditions for developing new variants of SARS-CoV-2, potentially the most dangerous.
Mass vaccination is increasingly urgent.
On Friday, Tedros Ghebreyesus called on rich countries “that have bought most of the available vaccines,” not to vaccinate young people and adolescents, in order to donate these vaccines to countries suffering from a shortage of supplies.
“I understand that these countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, however, I encourage these countries to reconsider this decision and donate Covax vaccinesThe Director-General of the World Health Organization said without mentioning a specific country.
The epidemic is receding in the United States and the European Union
On Thursday, the United States began vaccinating teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15Before the next school year, on the same day that the commitment to wearing a mask was announced for citizens who had already been vaccinated.
They account for nearly 60 percent of adults in North America. New cases of infection in the country are declining to an average of 38,000 per week, or 11 cases per 100,000 people.
France and Canada have already obtained regulatory approval for the vaccine to be used in the same age group, and Germany to follow the same path. Berlin is only waiting for a “green light” from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Tedros Ghebreyesus confirmed that he had already been vaccinated but repeated In many poor countries, health workers fighting the epidemic have yet to be vaccinated.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization expressed his regret at the “sad reflection of the great distortion in access to vaccines” at the global level.
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