Confusion and complacency in addressing COVID-19 means the pandemic is a great distance from over, however it may be introduced beneath management in months with confirmed public well being measures, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned on Monday.
So far some 780 million vaccines have been administered globally, however measures together with sporting masks and sustaining bodily distancing have to be utilized to reverse the trajectory.
“We too want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming,” Tedros advised a information briefing.
“But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying – and it’s totally avoidable.”
“The COVID19 pandemic is a long way from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped,” he added.
Transmission was being pushed by “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures.”
“We are at a critical point in the pandemic now, the trajectory of this pandemic is growing for the 7th week in a row,” mentioned the WHO crew chief on COVID-19, Maria van Kerkhove.
Noting that there had been a 9% rise in instances final week, the seventh consecutive week of will increase, and a 5% rise in deaths, she added: “If you look at the epi (epidemic) curve and the trajectory of the pandemic right now, it is growing exponentially”.
Tedros mentioned that in some nations, regardless of persevering with transmission, eating places and nightclubs have been full and markets have been open and crowded with few folks taking precautions.
“Some people appear to be taking the approach that if they’re relatively young, it doesn’t matter if they get COVID-19,” he mentioned.
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