Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday warned the planet is already in the ‘early stages’ of Covid-19’s third wave, amid Delta variant surge.
“Unfortunately…we are now in the early stages of a third wave”, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.
The Delta variant’s spread, along with increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health measures, is driving an increase in both case numbers and deaths.
He reminded that a sustained decline in infection numbers and deaths was being driven, in recent months, by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America. But, he warned, that a fresh reversal of that positive trend has been seen, according to the UN News.
Dr. Tedros said the virus is continuing to evolve, resulting in more transmissible variants.
“The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide if it isn’t already,” he said.
Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of rising cases of Covid-19 cases globally, with increases recorded in all but one of the WHO’s six regions. Deaths are also rising again, after 10 weeks of steady decline, media reported.
He also drew the Emergency Committee on Covid-19’s attention to the ongoing “shocking disparity” in the global distribution of vaccines, as well as unequal access to life-saving tools.
Inequity has created a two-track pandemic – namely, one track for countries with the greatest access to vaccines, who are lifting restrictions and reopening their societies, and a second track for those without vaccines access who are left “at the mercy of the virus.”
He reiterated the WHO’s appeal for a massive push to vaccinate at least 10 percent of the population of every country by September, 40 percent by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by mid-2022.
Emphasizing that vaccines alone will not stop the pandemic, he called upon countries to persist with a “tailored and consistent approach”. It means using the full array of available public health and social measures and taking a comprehensive risk management approach to mass gatherings.
“So many countries around the world have shown that this virus can be stopped and contained with these measures,” he stressed.
The WHO is reviewing options to digitalize the International Certificate for Vaccination and Prophylaxis, to support a harmonized approach for recording vaccination status.
