With the increase in global cases of Covid-19 for the seventh week, WHO calls for “reality check”

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Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead in responding to the coronavirus, said 4.4 million Covid-19 infections had been reported worldwide last week and expressed concern about global trends.

“This is not the situation we want to be in for 16 months in a pandemic, where we have proven control measures. It is time for everyone to have a reality check on what we need to do,” van Kerkhove said. a Monday news briefing.

Several countries in Asia and the Middle East have seen large increases in cases, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noting that “confusion, satisfaction and inconsistency in public health measures” were the main reasons.

These peaks appear despite the fact that more than 780 million doses of vaccine are administered globally, he said, adding that while vaccines were a vital and powerful tool, they were not the only ones available.

Ghebreyesus pointed out that public health measures – wearing a mask, physical distance, ventilation, hand hygiene, surveillance, testing, tracking and isolation – act to stop infections and save lives. “We need a consistent, coordinated and comprehensive approach,” he said.

In the last week, large numbers of infections have been reported in India at all times, as the country of almost 1.4 billion people continues to launch one of the fastest vaccination actions in the world.
The country reported 161,736 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, a slight drop after six consecutive days of record increases in a single day, according to a CNN number of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. India’s total number of cases stands at over 13.5 million – after the United States and Brazil alone – including nearly 170,000 deaths.
India’s total number of cases stands at over 13.5 million – after the United States and Brazil alone – including nearly 170,000 deaths.

Iran, which has the highest number of cases and deaths in the Middle East, entered the fourth wave of the pandemic last week, the country’s health ministry said last week.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in the country has exceeded 2 million since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 4,200 patients currently hospitalized in the ICU, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

More than 4,200 patients are currently hospitalized in Iran’s ICU, and on Saturday the government imposed a 10-day blockade in most parts of the country.

Covid-19 is out of control in Brazil. So why do some officials reduce restrictive measures?
In Brazil, coronavirus cases get out of control; 4,195 people were recorded dead in just 24 hours on Tuesday, the deadliest pandemic day in the country to date. While the state of Sao Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro rank among the worst in the country for Covid-19 deaths, both reduced traffic restrictions on Monday.

Authorities in Sao Paulo have justified the reopening of schools, sporting events and construction stores, noting that occupancy rates in intensive care units in the state have fallen from 90.5% to 88.6%.

“This measure clearly shows that the effort made in recent weeks is beginning to bear fruit,” Deputy Governor Rodrigo Garcia told a news conference on April 9, but the daily number is still very serious – only on Friday, the state recorded over 20,000 new cases.

Meanwhile, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, UCI occupancy rates are 92% higher, but Mayor Eduardo Paes still decided to reduce the restrictions, saying that “our reality does not allow blocking” during a press conference on Friday, adding that store owners and the general population suffer economically from such measures. However, he said: “This is not the time to relax.”

The third wave of Europe

In Europe, many countries are navigating a third worrying wave, a more contagious variant of the virus seems to be the common culprit behind the chaos in Europe.

Two new studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is more transmissible, but the variant does not appear to affect the severity of the disease in someone receiving Covid-19. New findings clash with separate research that previously suggests that the variant may be linked to a higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

In Germany, the number of cases is on the rise, with health workers “failing” and bed occupancy in the country’s intensive care unit reaching its “peak”, according to the director of the German intensive care unit, who warned on Saturday that strongly, the numbers will increase in the next 10-14 days.

Last month, critics warned that European restrictions on the coronavirus came too late and that the continent’s current problems could be pursued by politicians too eager to begin to relax.

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the urgent need for people to be vaccinated to break the third wave.

Boris Johnson could emerge from the pandemic smelling of roses
Meanwhile, England lifted restrictions after more than three months of blockades on Monday, in a move that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was a “major step forward” for the country’s “roadmap to freedom”.

As part of “Step 2” of exiting the country’s blockade, non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and zoos were reopened, as well as outdoor areas of pubs and restaurants.

The lifting of the measures coincided with the fact that the United Kingdom has achieved its Covid-19 vaccination goal of providing a dose to all adults over the age of 50, clinically vulnerable people and social workers, the British government said on Monday.

Nearly 40 million vaccines have now been administered in total in the UK, and adults under the age of 50 will be invited in the coming days.

Marcia Reverdosa, Rodrigo Pedroso, Maija Ehlinger, Rishabh M Pratap, Vedika Sud and Esha Mitra contributed to this report.

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