Covid ‘End is in Sight’ says Gebreyesus as global covid cases fall dramatically

In a bid to help countries to do what is needed to rein in the virus, the WHO on Wednesday published six policy briefs.

The number of newly reported Covid-19 cases has dropped dramatically, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, urging the world to seize the opportunity to end the pandemic.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebre-yesus informed that the newly reported cases, which have killed millions since being identified in late 2019, fell to the lowest level last week since March 2020.

But the world needed to step up to ‘seize this opportunity, he added.

According to WHO’s latest epidemiological report on Covid-19, the number of reported cases fell 28 percent to 3.1 million during the week ending September 11, following a 12-percent-drop a week earlier.

But the agency has warned that the falling number of reported cases is deceptive since many countries have cut back on testing and may not be detecting the less serious cases.

Since the start of the pandemic, WHO has tallied more than 605 million cases, and some 6.4 million deaths, although both those numbers are also believed to be serious undercounts.

In a bid to help countries to do what is needed to rein in the virus, the WHO on Wednesday published six policy briefs.

Among the recommendations, the WHO is urging countries to invest in vaccinating 100 percent of the most at-risk groups, including health workers and the elderly, and to keep up testing and sequencing for the virus.

COMMENTS