“It is encouraging that this continuous decrease in reported deaths due to Corona, which has recorded 95 percent since the beginning of this year,” said the head of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a press conference.
He added, “Nevertheless, some countries are witnessing increases in death rates, and during the past four weeks, 14,000 people have lost their lives due to this disease.”
“The emergence of the new XBB.1.16 mutant shows that the virus is still mutating, and is still capable of causing new waves,” he warned.
Maria van Kerkhove, technical director of the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Programme, said the XBB subspecies were now dominant worldwide.
She pointed out that, these mutants are characterized by growth and the ability to evade the immune system, which means that infected people can catch the virus again despite taking vaccines.
She called for increased surveillance through testing “so we can monitor the virus itself and understand what all these variants mean”.
Tedros reaffirmed that the World Health Organization still hopes to declare the end of Corona as a health emergency in the world, as the committee that reports to him on the status of the virus is scheduled to meet next month.
“This virus is here to stay, and all countries need to learn how to deal with it along with other infectious diseases,” he said.
Tedros pointed out that an estimated 1 in 10 infections has caused a long-term corona, which means that hundreds of millions of people will need long-term care.
The head of the World Health Organization also revealed that the Corona epidemic caused the disruption of vaccination programs for other diseases, as about 67 million children lost at least one basic vaccine injection between 2019 and 2021.
He said: The vaccination rates have declined to what they were in 2008, which led to outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio and yellow fever, calling on all countries to confront “obstacles to vaccination.”
2023-04-27 05:28:22
#Good #news #Corona
