According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of people who have died worldwide in the Covid-19 pandemic has surpassed three million.
The milestone comes the day after WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned the world was “approaching the highest rate of infection” so far.
India – experiencing a second wave – recorded more than 230,000 new cases on April 17 alone.
Almost 140 million cases have been recorded since the pandemic began.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on April 16 that “cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates”.
He added that “globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months”.
The US, India and Brazil – the countries with the most recorded infections – have accounted for more than a million deaths between them, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Last week saw an average of 12,000 deaths a day reported around the world, according to AFP.
However, official figures worldwide may not fully reflect the true number in many countries.
Up until a few weeks ago, India appeared to have the pandemic relatively under control. Cases had been below 20,000 a day for much of January and February – a low figure in a country of more than a 1.3 billion people.
But then infections began to rise rapidly: April 17 saw a record set for the third day in a row, with more than 234,000 cases reported.
Hospitals are running low on beds and oxygen. Sick people are being turned away, and some families are turning to the black market to get the drugs they need.
The capital Delhi has gone into lockdown over the weekend, with restrictions put in place in several other states, as officials try to stem the tide.
Brazil – which has recorded the third highest number of cases and, at 368,749, the second highest number of deaths – is still struggling to control the outbreak.
On April 16, the health ministry announced more than 85,000 new cases over the previous 24 hours and 3,305 deaths.
Canada has also reported a recent rise, registering more cases per million than the US over the last week – the first time this has happened since the pandemic began.
Papua New Guinea has also been highlighted as a cause for concern. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted “the potential for a much larger epidemic” in the Pacific nation following a sharp increase in cases.
He added that Papua New Guinea – which has received 140,000 vaccine doses through Australia and the Covax scheme – is a “perfect example of why vaccine equity is so important”.
More than 860 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered, in 165 countries worldwide.
However, the WHO chief told UN officials on April 16: “Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time – and we are failing.”
Some countries have secured and delivered doses to a large proportion of their population.
Those with high vaccinations rates, such as the UK and Israel, have seen their numbers of new infections drop sharply.
While Israel has distributed 119 doses per 100 people, just 2.81 doses per 100 have been given in the Palestinian territories, recent data from Our World in Data at Oxford University showed.
However, many more countries are still waiting for their first shipments to arrive.
That is leading to warnings about growing “vaccine inequity”.
Dr. Tedros pointed out that in high-income countries, one in four people have received a vaccine, compared with only one in 400 in poorer countries.
The WHO is working on a global scheme, Covax, to get rich countries to share their vaccine with lower income countries. Covax plans to deliver about two billion vaccine doses globally by the end of the year, but many vaccines require two doses per person.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged unity, as the UN’s health agency comes under continued fire from President Donald Trump.
Speaking on April 8, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO’s work and called for an end to the politicization of Covid-19.
The Ethiopian also said that he had received deaths threats and has been subjected to racist abuse.
President Trump said he would consider ending US funding for the World Health Organization.
The US president accused the WHO of being “very China-centric” and said they “really blew” their pandemic response.
Dr. Tedros has now dismissed the comments, insisting: “We are close to every nation, we are color-blind.”
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
After first attacking the WHO the previous day, President Trump renewed his criticism at his news briefing on April 8, saying the health agency must “get its priorities right”. He said the US would conduct a study to decide whether it would continue paying contributions,
Also answering questions at the briefing, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration was “re-evaluating our funding” of the WHO, adding: “Organizations have to work. They have to deliver the outcomes for which they were intended.”
The new coronavirus first emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has just ended an 11-week lockdown. An advisor to the WHO chief earlier said their close work with China had been “absolutely essential” in understanding the disease in its early stages.
President Trump’s attacks on the WHO come in the context of criticism of his own administration’s handling of the pandemic, especially early problems with testing.
The WHO approved a coronavirus test in January – but the US decided against using it, developing its own test instead. However, in February, when the testing kits were dispatched, some of them didn’t work properly and led to inconclusive results.
Public health experts say the delay enabled the virus to spread further within the US.
Dr. Tedros said: “Please, unity at national level, no using Covid or political points.
“Second, honest solidarity at the global level. And honest leadership from the US and China. “
“The most powerful should lead the way and please quarantine Covid politics,” he appealed, in comments seen as a response to President Trump, who said on Tuesday the WHO appeared to be “very biased toward China”.
President Trump said: “They called it wrong. They really – they missed the call.
“And we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it, and we’re going to see.”
The US is one of the WHO’s largest voluntary funders, with WHO data suggesting they contribute 15% to its overall budget.
The WHO chief said that he had been at the receiving end of racist comments for the past two to three months.
He said: “Giving me names, black or negro.
“I’m proud of being black, or proud of being negro.”
Dr. Tedros then said he had got death threats, adding – “I don’t give a damn.”
Referring to the abuse, the WHO chief said it had originated from Taiwan, “and the foreign ministry didn’t disassociate” itself from it.
However, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen dismissed this, saying her country is against discrimination.
“For years, we have been excluded from international organizations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
Taiwan, which is excluded from the WHO because of China’s objections to its membership, has said it has been unable to access important information during the coronavirus outbreak. The WHO denies this.
On April 8, Dr. Tedros played down the financial threat, saying he believed that US funding would continue.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres had earlier added his voice to the defense of the organization. He described the outbreak as “unprecedented” and said any assessment of how it was handled should be an issue for the future.
He said: “Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also reportedly offered his support to the WHO in a call to Dr. Tedros on April 8.
“He reaffirmed his trust, his support for the institution and refuses to see it locked into a war between China and the USA,” a French presidency official told Reuters.
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