Covid-19: ‘We cannot lose sight of other health issues especially influenza’ – Dr Tedros

By June 15, more than 7.8 million cases of Covid-19 globally had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 430 000 deaths.
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it took more than two months for the first 100 000 cases to be reported.
“For the past two weeks, more than 100 000 new cases have been reported almost every single day. Almost 75 per cent of recent cases come from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia.”

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He said the organisation is also seeing increasing numbers from Africa, eastern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East.
“Last week, China reported a new cluster of cases in Beijing, after more than 50 days without a case in that city. “More than 100 cases have now been confirmed. The origin and extent of the outbreak are being investigated,” Dr Tedros said.
“Despite the ongoing global response to the pandemic, we cannot lose sight of other significant public health issues, including influenza. Influenza affects every country every year, and takes its own deadly toll.
“As we enter the southern hemisphere influenza season and begin planning for the northern hemisphere season, we must ensure that influenza remains a top priority.”
He said co-circulation of Covid-19 and influenza can worsen the impact on health-care systems that are already overwhelmed.
More than 500 million people are vaccinated against flu every year, based on recommendations from WHO on the composition of flu vaccines.

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These recommendations are based on data and virus samples collected and analysed by WHO’s Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, or GISRS.
The GISRS system has been functioning since 1952 with more than 125 countries participating.
“The infrastructure, people, skills and experience built up through GISRS, WHO Collaborating Centres and national influenza centres have been the foundation for detecting Covid-19. However, this well-established system is now seeing significant challenges.”
He warned that influenza surveillance has either been suspended or is declining in many countries, and there has been a sharp decline in sharing of influenza information and viruses because of the pandemic.

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“Compared with the last three years, we’ve seen a dramatic decrease in the number of specimens tested for influenza globally. We’ve also seen a 62 per cent decrease in the number of virus shipments to WHO Collaborating Centres, and a 94 per cent decrease in the number of influenza viruses with genetic sequence data uploaded to the GISAID database.”
Dr Tedros added that these decreases are due to a combination of issues, including the repurposing of staff and supplies, overburdened laboratories and transport restrictions.
These disruptions may have short and long-term effects, such as the loss of capacities to detect and report new influenza viruses with pandemic potential.

Twice a year WHO convenes a group of experts to analyse the circulating flu strains. Based on their analysis they select the viruses that should be targeted by flu vaccines for the upcoming season in each hemisphere.

To know which viruses are circulating, WHO relies on information from countries reported through GISRS, which we use to make recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines.
“The southern hemisphere flu season is already underway. There is no time to lose.”

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