GENEVA | The person in charge of managing the COVID-19 epidemic at the World Health Organization (WHO) Maria Van Kerkhove stressed on Tuesday that the new coronavirus was still not under control, many being those who mistakenly believe that the pandemic is almost conquered.
According to Mme Van Kerkhove, 3.1 million new cases of contamination and 54,000 deaths were reported last week around the world, the true figures being probably much higher.
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“The situation is still incredibly dynamic. And it is dynamic, because we do not have the control of this virus, underlined the American epidemiologist during exchanges live on the social networks of the WHO.
“We are not out of the woods yet. We are completely in the middle of this pandemic. But where in the middle … we don’t know yet, because frankly we are not using the tools we currently have to get closer to the end, ”she added.
“In some cities we see intensive care units and hospitals overcrowded and people dying while on the streets people behave as if (the epidemic) is over,” she lamented.
The expert also stressed that the deaths largely concerned people who had not been vaccinated.
According to data provided by the countries that provide this information, “the rate of hospitalization and death is by far” the highest “among those who have not been vaccinated,” she said.
Mme Van Kerkhove also stigmatized the disinformation and misconceptions circulating on the internet regarding COVID-19.
“The result is people are dying. We cannot water down that, ”she stressed.
The WHO is currently studying the evolution that the pandemic may have in the three to the next 18 months.
“We still have pockets of people who are not vaccinated, either because they do not have access (to vaccines) or because they refuse or cannot be vaccinated, and we can still see outbreaks. Of the epidemic, she noted.
Van Kerkhove has warned that the coronavirus, although it will eventually not be under control, is here to stay.
“The possibility of eradicating the virus, or even eliminating this virus on a global level has been lost from the start. It has been lost because we have not, at a global level, attacked this virus as vigorously as possible, ”she regretted.
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