The number of new COVID-19 cases reported to the UN health agency has declined for seven weeks in a row, in what the top official there called on Monday “the longest sequence of weekly declines during the pandemic so far”. However, while weekly cases are at their lowest since February, “deaths are not falling as quickly”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told journalists in Geneva.
“The number of deaths reported last week was similar to the previous week, and the global decline masks a worrying increase in cases and deaths in many countries”, he explained. With the least access to vaccines, diagnostics and oxygen supplies for the critically ill, a steep increase in Africa is “especially concerning”, said the WHO chief.
A recent Lancet medical journal study showed that despite having fewer reported cases than most other regions, the continent has the highest mortality rate among critically ill COVID-19 patients. And evidence suggests new variants have substantially increased transmission globally.
“That means the risks have increased for people who are not protected, which is most of the world’s population”, he stated. Currently, the virus is moving faster than global vaccine distributions, according to WHO.
“At the G7 Summit on Saturday, I said that to end the pandemic, our shared goal must be to vaccinate at least 70 per cent of the world’s population by the time the G7 meets again in Germany next year”, Tedros pointed out. He said the G7 intergovernmental group and G20 leading industrialized nations had the capacity to provide the 11 billion doses needed, and should “make this happen”.
Tedros also welcomed the G7’s support for WHO, the ACT Accelerator and a proposed treaty on pandemic preparedness, along with their announcement of 870 million vaccine doses, for less well-off nations, primarily through the UN-backed COVAX equitable shots initiative. While “a big help…we need more, and we need them faster”, the UN official said, pointing out that more than 10 thousand lives are being lost every day, adding that “during this press conference alone, more than 420 people will die.”
