There needs to be a “collective commitment” to get vaccinations underway worldwide for health workers and others who are at high risk of catching COVID-19, within the next 100 days, said the UN health agency chief on Monday. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) was briefing journalists in Geneva, a year on from the first ever recorded COVID-19 death. Today, there are more than 1.93 million dead, and nearly 90 million confirmed cases.
This is separate from another “WHO origins” mission team, whose access to Wuhan to study how the pandemic began, was delayed last week. That international team – “distinguished experts from 10 institutions and countries” – has begun its trip, in collaboration with colleagues in China, said Tedros.
He said yet another new variant or mutation of the virus, had emerged in Japan over the weekend, while transmissibility “appears to be increasing”. Although the increased infectiousness can drive more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, “at present, the variants do no seem to show increased severity of disease”, he added, offering some reassurance.
Most critical, said Tedros, is to effectively sequence the DNA and composition of the virus, “so we know how it’s changing and how to respond”. There may be a need to “tweak” both diagnostics and vaccines in order to keep pace with the mutations, he said.
Source: The UN
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