Covid-19: World Health Organisation reports 10 million cases
"The hard reality is that this is not even close to being over."
June 30 marked six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) received the first reports of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause in China.
“The six-month anniversary of the outbreak coincides with reaching 10 million cases and 500 000 deaths,” WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his media briefing on June 29.
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“The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity. We have also seen concerning signs of stigma, misinformation and the politicisation of the pandemic.”
Ghebreyesus announced that WHO has published an updated and detailed timeline of WHO’s response to the pandemic on its website.
“The public can have a look at what happened in the past six months in relation to the response. It illustrates the range of WHO’s work to stop transmission and save lives.
“We have worked with researchers, clinicians and other experts to bring together the evolving science and distil it into guidance.”
He said millions of health workers have enrolled in courses through the OpenWHO.org online learning platform.
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WHO also launched the Solidarity Trial to find answers fast to which drugs are the most effective.
“We launched Solidarity Flights to ship millions of test kits and tonnes of personal protective equipment to many countries and we launched the Solidarity Response Fund, which has raised more than $223-million (R3 852 559 150) for the response. Three major innovative solidarity activities.”
WHO also worked with the European Commission and multiple partners to launch the ACT Accelerator to ensure once a vaccine is available, it’s available to everyone – especially those who are at greatest risk.
On Friday WHO announced the ACT Accelerator Investment Case, which estimates that more than $31-billion (R535 557 550 000) will be needed to accelerate the development, equitable allocation and delivery of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics by the end of next year.
“Although a vaccine will be an important long-term tool for controlling Covid-19, there are five priorities that every country must focus on now to save lives now.”
These are:
• Empowering communities.
“Every individual must understand that they are not helpless. There are things everyone should do to protect themselves and others. Your health is in your hands. You may be in a low-risk category, but the choices you make could be the difference between life and death for someone else.”
• Suppressing transmission.
“Whether countries have no cases, clusters of cases or community transmission, there are steps all countries can take to suppress the spread of the virus. Ensure health workers have access to training and personal protective equipment. Improve surveillance to find cases. The single-most important intervention for breaking chains of transmission is not necessarily high-tech and can be carried out by a broad range of professionals. It’s tracing and quarantining contacts.”
• Saving lives.
“Early identification and clinical care saves lives. Providing oxygen and dexamethasone to people with severe and critical disease saves lives. Paying special attention to high-risk groups, including elderly people in long-term care facilities, saves lives,” said Ghebreyesus.
• Accelerating research.
“We’ve already learnt a lot about this virus, but there’s still a lot we don’t know and there are still tools we need. This week we will convene a second meeting to assess progress on research and development and re-evaluate research priorities for the next stage of the pandemic.”
• Political leadership.
“We have said repeatedly, national unity and global solidarity are essential to implementing a comprehensive strategy to suppress transmission, save lives and minimise the social and economic impact of the virus.”
Resurgence of case
He said some countries are now experiencing a resurgence of cases as they start to re-open their economies and societies.
“The hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up. We will need even greater stores of resilience, patience, humility and generosity in the months ahead.”
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