Speaking in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, he said the world must unite with “determination, dedication and discipline” to triumph over COVID-19 pandemic.
“More than any other event (the Games) have the power to unite the world; inspire; to show what is possible,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)Who is the) in front of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic torch in hand.
He warned that the world was now in the early stages of another wave of infections and deaths, and urged all countries to embark on a “massive global push” to vaccinate at least 10 percent of their population by September.
Today, 75 percent of vaccines have been given in only 10 countries, Tedros said, while in low-income countries, “only one percent of people have received at least one dose.”
A two-track pandemic
The World Health Organization chief said the world’s failure to share vaccines, tests and treatments, including oxygen, is fueling a “two-track pandemic” between the haves to open up, and the have-nots who shut themselves down.
This is not just a moral assault; It is also self-defeating both epidemiologically and economically,” he said, warning that the longer the inequality persists, the slower the recovery.
He warned that more translocations would lead to potentially more dangerous mutations, even larger than the destructive delta variant.
“And The more variables there are, the more likely someone will evade vaccines and bring us all back to square one”, the WHO official noted, reiterating that “none of us are safe until we are all.”
‘Sick and tired’
Tedros described the pandemic as a “world fails” test and stated that we are not in a race against each other, but in a race against the virus.
“In the time I took to make these observations, more than 100 people will have lost their lives to COVID-19,” he said. “And By the time the Olympic flame is extinguished on August 8th, more than 100,000 people will have died“.
According to the head of the World Health Organization, Covid disease has already claimed more than four million lives, and the death toll continues to rise with the number of deaths this year already more than double last year’s total.
“The peoples of the world are sick and tired,” he said, “sick of the virus… the lives and livelihoods it took… the suffering it caused… the restrictions and disruptions in their lives… the disruption it caused to economies and societies…[and] The dark clouds he cast over our future.”
By the time the Olympic flame goes out…More than 100,000 people will die – Head of the World Health Organization
Important lessons
The COVID-19 pandemic has learned painful but important lessons, including When health is in danger, everything is in dangerThe UN official said.
“This is why the WHO’s top priority is universal health coverage,” he explained, sharing a vision of a world where all people can access health services wherever and whenever they need them, without facing financial hardship.
When asked when the pandemic will end, Tedros replied, “When the world chooses to end it.”
“We have the tools to prevent transmission and save lives. He concluded that our common goal should be to vaccinate 70 percent of each country’s population by the middle of next year.”
Virus tracking
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization on Wednesday mentioned A 12 percent increase in new cases globally last week, compared to the previous case, with a total of 3.4 million new cases.
Since the pandemic began 19 months ago, there have been more than 190 million confirmed infections and more than 4,109,000 deaths.
© International Olympic Committee / Greg Martin
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach meets with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
0 Comments