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After six consecutive weeks of decline, COVID-19 cases worldwide rose last week for the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
Four of the agency’s six regions reported an increase in numbers, with Africa and the Western Pacific excluded.
“This is disappointing, but not surprising,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during his biweekly press conference from Geneva.
“Some of this appears to be due to the relaxation of public health measures, the continued circulation of variants, and people letting their guard down.”
The jump in cases comes as the launch of COVID-19 vaccines continues.
“Vaccines will help save lives, but if countries rely solely on vaccines, they are making a mistake,” Tedros warned, underscoring the importance of basic public health measures such as testing, contact tracing, wearing masks. and avoid crowds.
‘Encouraging’ signs
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire began vaccinating healthcare workers on Monday, becoming the first countries to benefit from a global mechanism to ensure vaccine equity.
Through the COVAX Facility, WHO and our partners are working to ensure that all countries can begin vaccination within the first 100 days of the year.
COVAX will deliver 11 million doses to countries this week. By the end of May, some 240 million doses will be assigned to 142 participating countries.
WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan pointed to “encouraging” signs as the world continues to prepare for what is the largest vaccine rollout in history.
“We have seen the first data from the countries where the vaccination campaigns began months ago, the impact that this is having in reducing hospitalizations, reducing deaths, particularly in the older age groups, among the vulnerable. We have even seen very encouraging data on the reduction of infections among healthcare workers who have received the vaccine, ”he said.
“So these are still the first days, but the signs are encouraging; the safety profile is encouraging. Around 250 million doses have been given worldwide, and so far there have been no major safety signs, so that’s reassuring too. ”
Concern for the Tigray region
The WHO explained that some countries have received COVAX vaccines early due to various factors, such as the level of government preparedness, but logistical challenges in vaccine distribution, including labeling, packaging and shipping, can also affect the deployment.
WHO Executive Director Dr. Michael Ryan spoke about the difficulty of reaching conflict areas such as Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where government and regional forces have been fighting since November.
He said the situation is very worrying, as water, sanitation, essential health services and the intervention of COVID-19 have been interrupted. Many people live in IDP camps, which increases the risk of contracting diarrheal diseases, malaria and other diseases.
WHO has worked to provide essential supplies to cover 450,000 people, or about 10 percent of the population, for three months, Dr. Ryan told reporters.
“Our primary goal as an organization, wherever we work, is to ensure that all people have access to the basic and essential human right of access to basic health care,” he said.
“We will work with the Ministry of Health; We will work with the health group partners and anyone else who can help us provide better access to the population there. ”
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