Experts from the World Health Organization said Wednesday that global coronavirus deaths remain stunningly high two years into the pandemic as highly contagious variants — including Omicron and its relative — continue to circulate and possible new mutations loom.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist who serves as the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said during an event that this week is the “sixth week in a row that we’re seeing increasing reports of deaths” from the coronavirus even as cases appear to be moving downwardIn some parts of the globe, this has prompted some rich countries to start easingPublic health restrictions
Van Kerkhove warned world leaders not to take the apparent decline in infections as proof that the pandemic has ended. He noted that this could be due to a sudden drop in testing after the Omicron surge that pushed the number of recorded cases to new heights.
Emphasizing the alarming rise in deaths in recent days, Van Kerkhove noted that “almost 75,000 people died” of Covid-19 over the past week alone. According to figuresJohns Hopkins University has revealed that the coronavirus is killing an average of 10,300 people every day.
“We know that is an underestimate,” Van Kerkhove continued. “There is variation across the world in terms of increasing and decreasing cases and deaths. But at this point in the pandemic, when we have tools that can save people’s lives, this is far, far too many. The big worry, really, is this increasing trend.”
“Increasing deaths for six weeks in a row is not the situation we should be in right now,” she added.
Covid-19 death rate rates are far higherThe WHO emphasizes the importance of equitable distribution of vaccine doses across the globe for those who are not vaccinated.
However, the major pharmaceutical companies have not yet made significant progress. refused to take partWHO-backed technology transfer efforts deny developing countries the tools they need to produce vaccines. This leaves billions of people without lifesaving shots.
Only 10.6% of low-income people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. according toOur World in Data. The WHO can help if inequalities persist. warnedAfrica may not be able attain 70% vaccination against Covid-19 before the end of 2024.
Wednesday saw the German company BioNTech. announcedA new plan was announced to deliver mobile coronavirus vaccine factories in Africa as part of an effort to increase production. The WHO head is a spokesman for the WHO. welcomed the initiative, critics argued that it reeks of a ploy by BioNTech to secure its grip on its vaccine recipe — which was developed with substantial public funding — and undercut Africa’s ongoing effortsTo make your own mRNA shots.
Public health experts will be available in December identifiedThere are more than 100 companies in Africa and the Global South that have the ability to produce coronavirus vaccinations. All that’s needed, according to experts, is a transfer of vaccine technology and manufacturing processesThat pharmaceutical companies and rich countries have so far withheld.
“After a year of stalling efforts to scale up global vaccine production, BioNTech’s pop-up vaccine factories are little more than a neo-colonial stunt to try and maintain control of this lifesaving technology in Africa,” said Tim Bierley, pharma campaigner at the U.K.-based advocacy group Global Justice Now. “This is inexcusable when we know there are several factories in Africa with the capacity to create these kinds of vaccines today, if BioNTech and others were willing to share the tech in this global emergency.”
