The death toll from COVID-19 has declined to the lowest level in almost a year but still, the world is losing an unacceptably large number of people to the pandemic, the World Health Organization said.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world must come together to vaccinate people in order to get rid of the infectious disease.
“But it’s still an unacceptably high level – almost 50,000 deaths a week, and the real number is certainly higher,” he said in Geneva.
“Deaths are declining in every region except Europe, where several countries are facing fresh waves of cases and deaths. And of course, deaths are highest in the countries and populations with the least access to vaccines.”
Tedros appealed for global cooperation. “Countries that continue to roll out boosters now are effectively preventing other countries from vaccinating their most at-risk populations,” he said.
As of Wednesday, there were more than 238 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, and more than 4.8 million deaths.
WHO had previously pushed governments to vaccinate 10 percent of their populations by the end of September, a target which 56 nations missed, most of them in Africa.
Tedros said even more countries are at risk of missing the 40 percent target to be achieved by the end of the year. Three countries – Burundi, Eritrea, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – have yet to start vaccinations.
“About half of the remaining countries are constrained by supply. They have a vaccination program underway, but don’t have enough supply to accelerate enough to reach the target,” he said.
Tedros urged countries and companies that control global vaccine supply to prioritize distribution to the COVAX solidarity initiative and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT).
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) Wednesday launched an expert group that will examine the origins of new pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The proposed members of the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) were selected for their expertise in areas such as epidemiology, animal health, clinical medicine, virology and genomics.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the news during his regular briefing from Geneva.
“SAGO will advise WHO on the development of a global framework to define and guide studies into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, including SARS-CoV-2,” he said.
“The emergence of new viruses with the potential to spark epidemics and pandemics is a fact of nature, and while SARS-CoV-2 is the latest such virus, it will not be the last.”
