Categories: World

WATCH: WHO reflects on unprecedented challenges one year after first Covid report

Thursday 31 December, 2020, marks the first anniversary of the first report of a cluster of cases of “pneumonia of unknown cause”, later identified as a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and that led to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To mark this milestone on 31 December, and to look ahead to 2021, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has recorded a video statement reflecting on a tumultuous year.

In a statement, the WHO says the year 2020 was unprecedented: “It was the scenario the public health community had feared for decades.”

“Science, solutions and solidarity have been WHO’s tools for addressing the biggest health threat of the past century,” they added.

ALSO READ: Wuhan virus cases may be 10 times higher than reported: China health study

“This isn’t the first time WHO has responded to a pandemic, and it won’t be the last – but Covid-19 is the most challenging crisis we have ever faced.”

Going into 2021, Adhanom  urged countries and communities to invest in strengthening health and emergency preparedness systems, ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines globally, adhere to proven public health measures to protect people from the virus, and work together, in solidarity, to overcome this and future health challenges

Watch Adhanom  message below, courtesy of the WHO: 

 

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.

Published by
By Christelle du Toit
Read more on these topics: Coronavirus (Covid-19)