The pandemic, according to the WHO, “never ended.”
All over the world, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on people’s minds. The stream of life has changed in every way. Everything has been affected by it including lifestyle and professional working methods. Despite our best efforts to end the pandemic, it remains a worldwide health emergency.
There is no question that “we are in a much better position now” than a year ago, when the Omicron wave was at its peak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday, as the world enters its fourth year . Epidemic. He claimed that COVID-19 is still a health emergency.
“Over the past eight weeks, more than 170,000 people have lost their lives to COVID-19.” And that’s just the reported deaths. We know the real number is much higher,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation. In a press conference.
“Three years ago today, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global spread of COVID-19 – the highest level of alarm under International Health Regulations and, for the time being, the only level of alarm,” Ghebreyesus said. The Emergency Committee for Coronavirus Disease has advised that “COVID-19 remains a global health emergency.”
last friday the @WHO emergency committee meeting to consider whether #COVID-19 Intl remains a public health emergency. Worry In his view, the outbreak remains a global health emergency, and I agree. this morning i updated #EB152 on the way forward. https://t.co/LNH6n5s0jdpic.twitter.com/p0QTo0mV1S
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 30, 2023
The Committee acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic is moving towards an “inflection point”.
“Achieving high levels of population immunity globally, through infection or vaccination, may limit the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on morbidity and mortality, but there is no doubt that this virus continues to spread in humans and animals.” Will remain a permanently established pathogen for the foreseeable future,” it said.
It noted that while eliminating the virus from human and animal reservoirs is highly unlikely, mitigation of its devastating effect on morbidity and mortality is achievable and should remain a “priority goal”.
“We can’t control the virus, but we can do more to address vulnerabilities in populations and health systems,” he said, adding that this could mean vaccinating 100 percent of the most at-risk groups.
It also means increasing access to testing and early antiviral use; taking context-specific measures when there is a surge in cases; and maintaining and expanding the laboratory network.
He also called for fighting misinformation related to the virus and vaccination. Novel coronavirus was first reported on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan, China. Globally, according to the WHO, there have been more than 752.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6.8 million deaths so far.
So far, 13.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally, with 89 percent of health workers and 81 percent of older adults (over 60 years) completing the primary series.
The WHO chief said he hoped that in the coming year, the world would transition to a new phase in which hospitalizations and deaths would be reduced to the lowest possible levels, and health systems would respond to COVID-19 in an integrated and sustainable manner. Will be able to manage. ,
“Vaccination will remain an essential part of our approach. We are now working to determine the most effective mechanism to advise member states and manufacturers on vaccine composition and frequency of vaccinations,” he added.
(with inputs from agencies)
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