World News | Lowest COVID death toll since March 2020, pandemic nears end: WHO

Geneva [Switzerland]Sept 15 (ANI): World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 deaths reported weekly fell last week to the lowest level since March 2020, adding that the The popularity is now out of sight.

“We have never been in a better position to end this pandemic,” the WHO director-general told media personnel at his weekly press briefing. However, the director-general of the UN health agency explained that the world “is not there yet”.

Also read | WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the end of COVID-19 was “in sight” and the death toll was the lowest since March 2020.

“The marathon runner doesn’t stop when the finish line appears. She runs harder, with all the energy she has left. We must too. We can see the finish line. We are in a winning position. But now it is The worst time to stop running,” he stressed.

The WHO chief also warned that if the world does not seize the opportunity now, there is still a risk of more mutation, death, destruction and uncertainty. “So, let’s take this opportunity,” he urged, announcing that the WHO was releasing six short policy briefs outlining key actions all governments must now take to “finish the game”.

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The policy brief is a summary of evidence and experience based on the past 32 months, outlining measures that will best save lives, protect health systems and avoid social and economic disruption.

“[They] There is an urgent call for governments to take a serious look at their policies and strengthen them against COVID-19 and future pathogens with pandemic potential,” Tedros explained.

Available online, the documents include recommendations for vaccinating most at-risk groups, continuous testing and sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and integrating effective treatments for COVID-19 into primary healthcare systems.

They also urged authorities to plan for future surges, including securing supplies, equipment and additional health workers. The briefing also contains communication advice, including training health workers to identify and handle misinformation, and to produce high-quality information materials.

Tedros emphasized that the WHO has been working to combat the spread of the new coronavirus since New Year’s Eve 2019 and will continue to do so until the pandemic is “true over.”

“Together we can end this pandemic, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities and individuals step up to seize this opportunity,” he said.

WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, stressed that the virus is still “intensively circulating” around the world, and the agency believes the number of reported cases is underestimated.

“We expect future waves of infection, possibly caused by different sub-variants of Omicron or even different variants of interest at different points in time around the world,” she said, reiterating her previous warning that the more the virus spreads , the more chance it mutates.

However, she said these future waves do not need to translate into “waves or deaths” because there are now effective tools such as vaccines and antiviral drugs specifically for COVID-19. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)