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The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern about the global rise in Corona infection numbers and called for consistent implementation of protective measures. “We are just at a critical point in the pandemic,” WHO corona expert Maria Van Kerkhove said Monday in Geneva, referring to exponentially rising infection numbers. “This is not the situation we want to be in 16 months into a pandemic when we have effective control measures.”
In the past week, the number of new infections worldwide has increased by nine percent, Van Kerkhove said. The number of deaths increased by five percent, he said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that this marked the seventh consecutive week that infection numbers increased and the fourth consecutive week that deaths increased.
Last week’s overall increase was the fourth largest in a single week since the pandemic began – even though more than 780 million doses of vaccine had already been administered worldwide, Tedros said. The increase in the number of cases was particularly sharp in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, according to the report.
The WHO chief called for continued consistent implementation of protective measures such as spacing, masks, hand washing, ventilation, testing, contact tracing and quarantine. He said WHO does not want “endless lockdowns.” Currently, however, there are overcrowded intensive care units and deaths in many countries – “and this is completely preventable,” he said.
- source: AFP/picture: pixabay.com
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