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GENEVA – Six months after a pandemic was declared, the WHO chief said Thursday that the lack of solidarity and leadership among world powers is “what worries me most” in the fight against COVID-19.
The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the new coronavirus was still spreading across the planet precisely because of the gaps between the main actors in the fight against the disease.
Although the UN health agency declared a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alarm, on January 30, Tedros first described the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, drawing attention. of the public.
Reflecting on this point of the crisis during a virtual press conference, Tedros said: “What worries me most is … the lack of solidarity.
“Because when solidarity is lacking and when we are divided, that is a very good opportunity for the virus, and that is why it is still spreading.
“That is what worries me and that is what I ask of the world.
“We will need solidarity and we will need global leadership, especially from the world’s major powers. This is how we can defeat this virus.”
The virus has killed more than 900,000 people and infected at least 27.9 million since the outbreak in China emerged last December.
‘END WILL NOT COME SOON’
The United States is pulling out of the WHO, and President Donald Trump accuses it of being too slow to declare a pandemic and too close to China.
And the WHO-led ACT-Accelerator program, a global collaboration to search for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, has so far only received less than a tenth of the required funding.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that the nearly $ 3 billion contributed so far had been critical to the startup phase since the accelerator was launched four months ago.
However, it took an additional $ 35 billion to go from startup to expansion, starting with $ 15 billion in the next three months.
WHO emergency director Michael Ryan said the pandemic had hit the world hard in the past six months, but warned that the end was not yet in sight.
“We mourn the loss of people who have been lost, we celebrate the bravery of our front-line health workers … we support the people who are feeling the pain of this pandemic,” he said.
Ryan said the WHO will now commit to continuing to fight the virus, suppress transmission, and develop and administer a safe vaccine.
“We can only commit to doing what is humanly possible,” he said.
“The end will not come soon.
“All the citizens of this planet are tired and we wish this virus was not with us. But we must work to the end of this, and I think we will.”
WHO, COVID-19, coronavirus, Tedros, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO updates, COVID-19 updates, coronavirus updates, ANC
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