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Roselyne Sachiti
Features. Health and Society Editor
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the Delta variant is now in more than 104 countries and they expect it to soon be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide.
In his opening remarks at a media briefing on Covid-19 on Monday, Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and deaths.
“Delta is now in more than 104 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide.
“The world is watching in real time as the Covid-19 virus continues to change and become more transmissible. My message today is that we are experiencing a worsening public health emergency that further threatens lives, livelihoods and a sound global economic recovery,” he said.
Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that the situation is worse in places that have very few vaccines, but the pandemic is not over anywhere.
“Delta and other highly transmissible variants are driving catastrophic waves of case, which are translating into high numbers of hospitalisations and death,” he noted.
“Even countries that successfully managed to ward off the early waves of the virus, through public health measures alone, are now in the midst of devastating outbreaks.
“Particularly in low-income countries, exhausted health workers are battling to save lives in the midst of shortages of personal protective equipment, oxygen and treatments.”
In his remarks, he also said the global gap in vaccine supply is hugely uneven and inequitable.
“Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses, before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable. I ask you, who would put fire fighters on the frontline without protection?
“Who are the most vulnerable to the flames of this pandemic?
The health workers on the frontlines, older persons and the vulnerable.”
Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus said currently, data shows that vaccination offers long lasting immunity against severe and deadly Covid-19.
The priority now”, he said, must be to vaccinate those who have received no doses and protection.
“Instead of Moderna and Pfizer prioritising the supply of vaccines as boosters to countries whose populations have relatively high coverage, we need them to go all out to channel supply to COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team and low- and low-middle income countries, which have very low vaccine coverage,” he added.
Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of increasing cases of COVID-19 globally, with increases recorded in all but one of WHO’s six regions. And after 10 weeks of declines, deaths are increasing again.
Online Reporter