WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said, India’s Covid-19 condition remains hugely concerning, with several states continuing to see a worrying number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths. He warned that the pandemic’s second year will be “far more deadly” than the first for the world.
At the daily media briefing he said, “India remains hugely concerning, with several states continuing to see a worrying number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths,”
“And we thank all the stakeholders who are supporting India,” the WHO Director-General said.
With 3,43,144 people testing positive for the virus on Friday, taking the country’s caseload to 2,40,46,809 and the death toll stands at 2,62,317, India is in the midst of a deadly wave of the pandemic.
Ghebreyesus pointed out that the emergency-like situation was not restricted to India.
On December 19, India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 10 million mark and in less than six months it has doubled that surpassed the grim milestone of 20 million cases on May 4.
“Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Egypt are just some of the countries that are dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalisations,” he said adding that some countries in the Americas still have high numbers of cases and as a region, the Americas accounted for 40 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths last week.
There are also spikes in some countries in Africa. “These countries are in heightened response mode and WHO will continue to provide support in all ways possible,” he said.
Noting that Covid-19 has already cost more than 3.3 million lives across the world, Ghebreyesus said, “We’re on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first.”
He grieved that vaccine supply remains an important challenge and that saving lives and livelihoods with a combination of public health measures and vaccination – not one or the other – is the only way out of the pandemic.