Push Admin

World won't vanquish coronavirus this year, says WHO

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/03/01/who-rise.jpg"/><figcaption>Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) speaks during the opening of the 148th session of the Executive Board on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, January 18, 2021. <em>Christopher Black/WHO/Handout/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>GENEVA - It is unrealistic to think that the world will be done with the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year, the WHO said Monday.</p><p>The World Health Organization&#x27;s emergencies director Michael Ryan said it might be possible to take the sting of tragedy out of the coronavirus crisis by reducing hospitalizations and deaths.</p><p>But the virus remains very much in control, he added, especially given that global new case numbers increased this week after seven consecutive weeks of decline.</p><p>&quot;It will be very premature and I think unrealistic to think that we&#x27;re going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,&quot; Ryan told journalists.</p><p>&quot;But I think what we can finish with, if we&#x27;re smart, is the hospitalizations, the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic.&quot;</p><p>Ryan said the WHO&#x27;s focus was on keeping virus transmission low, to help prevent the emergence of variants, but also to reduce the numbers of people who get sick.</p><p>He also said vaccinating front-line health care workers and those most vulnerable to severe disease would &quot;take the fear and the tragedy out of the pandemic&quot;.</p><p>WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wants the vaccination of health care workers under way in every country within the first 100 days of 2021 -- meaning there are 40 days left to go.</p><p>He welcomed the first injections of doses through the global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, which were administered Monday in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s encouraging to see health workers in lower-income countries starting to be vaccinated, but it&#x27;s regrettable that this comes almost three months after some of the wealthiest countries started their vaccination campaigns,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;And it&#x27;s regrettable that some countries continue to prioritize vaccinating younger, healthier adults at lower risk of disease in their own populations ahead of health workers and older people elsewhere,&quot; he said, without naming them.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5D7Bm8Y3P2M?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>GENEVA - It is unrealistic to think that the world will be done with the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year, the WHO said Monday.</p>

GENEVA - It is unrealistic to think that the world will be done with the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year, the WHO said Monday.