LONDON – The pandemic is hitting new heights around the world, the WHO warned this week, although the focus in some countries, including the US, has shifted to how quickly it can ease restrictions as vaccination figures rise.
“Across the world, cases and deaths continue to rise at alarming rates,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference on Friday. “Globally, the number of new cases per week has almost doubled in the last two months. This is close to the highest infection rate we have seen so far during the pandemic. Some countries have previously avoided widespread transmission there are now sharp increases in infections. “
Most of the new infections were observed in Brazil and India, the second and third most affected countries. Earlier this week, the NGO Doctors Without Borders warned that Brazil’s coronavirus response had led the country to a “humanitarian catastrophe.” The country failed to impose an efficient and centralized response and accounted for more than a quarter of the world’s deaths from COVID-19 by last week, the group said.
Some experts have warned that recommendations on social distancing have been ignored in India, and this week the government made a desperate plea for citizens to wear masks.
“If we all start wearing masks today or tomorrow, we will see an immediate sinking in this regard,” Vinod Kumar Paul, a member of the government’s planning commission, said in a press briefing on April 13. . not the crowd. We need to maintain social distance and hygiene, then this virus will definitely stop. And I have repeatedly said that wearing a mask is an effective social vaccine, which we should start today. “
Of the 1,185 daily deaths reported In India, in the 24 hours before Friday, about a third were in the state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, which was under blockade this week.
Even so, the holy festival in Kumbh Mela has seen millions of Indians traveling across the country, with images showing followers bathing in the Ganges without respect for social distancing and hundreds of positive cases being associated with the festival, according to the BBC. In recent weeks, the country has reported more than 100,000 new confirmed cases daily.
As the country struggles to limit the spread of coronavirus, vaccine exports have been suspended at the country’s Serum Institute, which produces most of the doses of AstraZeneca vaccine distributed by the COVAX program. India has so far vaccinated more than 100 million citizens, according to the country’s health ministry.
And in Europe, where most countries have adopted blockades to cope with rising infection rates, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge has announced that more than 1 million deaths from COVID-19 have been overcome in the European region.
“The situation in our region is serious – 1.6 million new cases are reported every week,” he told a news conference on Thursday. “It’s 9,500 every hour, 160 people every minute. Only among the oldest do we see a declining incidence.”
On Monday, parts of the UK temporarily came out of a deadlock for several months, with outdoor dining in bars and restaurants, as well as in shops, opening to customers. Now, the country reports some of the lowest proportions of cases and deaths in Europe, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted to emphasize following the blockade – not vaccinations.
“But it is very, very important for everyone to understand that the reduction in these numbers – in hospitalizations and in deaths and infections – has not been achieved through the vaccination program,” he said this week. “I don’t think people appreciate the blockage that has been overwhelmingly important in making this improvement.”
Even countries that were initially praised for managing the pandemic, such as Germany, are now fighting, according to Reuters. German doctors have called for action to deal with the worsening situations in hospitals, with Angela Merkel provided with new skills to impose local blockages if cases exceed a certain threshold.
And while Britain relaxes its blockade laws, France entered a national blockade earlier this month. The country has become the third country in Western Europe – after the United Kingdom and Italy – to record more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths.