[ad_1]
GENEVA: The head of the World Health Organization on Monday (November 9) called on everyone to continue fighting COVID-19, warning that while we may be fed up with fighting the pandemic, the virus “is not tired of we”.
Speaking to the WHO main annual meeting, which resumed on Monday after being interrupted in May, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also praised the election of Joe Biden as the next US president, and expressed hope that he can indicate closer global cooperation to end the pandemic.
READ: COVID-19 vaccine could fundamentally change the direction of the pandemic: WHO
It is vital, he said, that people follow science and resist the temptation to turn a blind eye to the virus.
“We may be tired of COVID-19. But it’s not tired of us,” he said.
Tedros, speaking from quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, warned that the virus feeds on weakness.
“It takes advantage of those with weaker health, but also of other weaknesses: inequality, division, denial, illusions and deliberate ignorance,” he said.
“We cannot negotiate with him, nor close our eyes and hope that he will disappear.”
“It pays no attention to political rhetoric or conspiracy theories,” he said.
“Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity.”
His comment came after COVID-19 has killed more than 1.25 million people and infected more than 50 million worldwide since it first appeared in China late last year.
Tedros warned that the pandemic had exposed the need for the world to regain a “sense of common purpose”, which in recent years has been eroded by “rising tides of misguided nationalism and isolationism.”
“In that spirit, we congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and look forward to working closely with their administration.”
Biden has signaled that his administration will reverse Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States, traditionally the WHO’s largest donor, from the UN health agency.
“We need to reinvent leadership, based on mutual trust and mutual responsibility, to end the pandemic and address the fundamental inequalities that are at the root of many of the world’s problems,” said Tedros.
FROZEN TAIWAN
Taiwan was notably absent from this week’s resumption of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which said Chinese “obstruction” had prevented it from attending and accused the WHO of prioritizing policy over health.
The autonomous island of 23 million has been remarkably successful in fighting the pandemic, with just seven deaths and fewer than 600 confirmed cases.
LEE: Taiwan says it is not invited to the WHO meeting after China’s ‘obstruction’
But he is excluded from the WHO by Beijing, which considers Taiwan as its own territory, and is not even allowed to participate as an observer as was the case between 2009 and 2016.
“Given that the world is still under serious threat from the COVID-19 pandemic … it is irony for the ‘health for all’ goal under the WHO charter” to exclude Taiwan, the ministry said on Monday. of Foreign Relations of Taipei.
The AMS will also focus on the more than 60 other health emergencies that WHO has responded to this year, including outbreaks of measles, Ebola and yellow fever.
It will be an occasion for countries to discuss WHO reform so that it can respond to challenges such as pandemics more quickly and effectively.
Tedros again called for “a system in which countries agree to a regular and transparent peer review process” of their health policies.
He said that the Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council, where the rights situation of each country is assessed every few years, could serve as inspiration.
The idea was presented last year by the Central African Republic and Benin, and France, Germany and Cameroon have already agreed to work on this project, he added.
The issue of transparency in health policies is at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, with China accused by some countries, including the United States, of having covered up at least the first cases of coronavirus.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
