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With coronavirus deaths approaching a million, experts are calling for concerted action to curb the pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the global death toll from COVID-19 could more than double to two million before a successful vaccine is widely used, and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic. .
“Unless we do it all, (two million deaths) … not only imaginable, but unfortunately very likely,” Mike Ryan, director of the UN agency’s emergency program, said in a briefing. on Friday.
The number of confirmed deaths about nine months ago since the new coronavirus was detected in China is currently 988,965. Overall, more than 32.5 million infections have been recorded, while nearly 22.5 million people have recovered.
“One million is a terrible number and we need to think about that before we start considering a second million,” Ryan told reporters when asked how high the death toll could go. “Are we collectively prepared to do whatever it takes to avoid that number? “If we don’t take those steps … yes, we will be seeing that number and sadly much higher.”
With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, Ryan said “we are not out of the woods anywhere” and emphasized that young people should not be blamed for a recent spike in infections following easing of restrictions and closures in all the world.
Rather, indoor gatherings of people of all ages were driving the rise for good measure, he said.
The WHO warning came as cases in the United States, the world’s worst-affected nation, crossed the seven million mark, more than a fifth of the world’s total despite representing only four percent of the world’s population. .
Global vaccine effort
Meanwhile, officials said the health agency is continuing talks with China about its possible participation in the COVAX funding scheme designed to ensure fast and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines globally, one week after the date. limit to commit.
“We are in talks with China about the role they can play as we move forward,” said Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the WHO and director of the ACT-Accelerator program to support COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.
He confirmed that Taiwan has adhered to the plan, although it is not a member of the WHO, bringing the total to 159 participants. Some 34 countries are still deciding.
The talks with China also include discussion of the world’s second-largest economy potentially supplying vaccines to the scheme, he said.
The UN agency on Friday released draft criteria for evaluating the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines to help guide drug manufacturers as vaccine trials reach advanced stages, said the deputy director-general of WHO, Mariangela Simao.
The document will be available for public comment until October 8, he said.
Earlier on Friday, a Chinese health official said the WHO had supported the country to begin administering experimental coronavirus vaccines to people, even as clinical trials were still ongoing.
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