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Summary
- COVID-19 is far from over despite two consecutive weeks of decline in new cases, the WHO has warned.
- The UN agency has flagged the shortage of 190 million vaccine doses globally.
- WEF’s summer summit in Singapore has been cancelled in the wake of the pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over despite decline in the global numbers in the past two weeks.
“There’s a huge disconnect growing where in some countries with the highest vaccination rates, there appears to be a mindset that the pandemic is over, while others are experiencing huge waves of infection. The pandemic is a long way from over,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his opening remarks at the weekly COVID-19 press conference.
In the past one week, the fresh cases in the world have come down by 14% -- the second consecutive week of decline in fresh infections. However, the global death toll has declined by only 4%, as deaths in India keep mounting.
Mr Ghebreyesus also urged for immediate funding of the organisation as it has been responding to “high demand” from the “surge in cases in India and other hotspots”.
Massive vaccine shortage
The WHO has highlighted a massive vaccine shortage of 190 million doses, which can hamper the battle against the monster virus in various parts of the world. Already, India – the worst-hit country right now -- has seen its vaccination programme partially suspended in certain provinces due to the paucity in supply.
Also Watch: How China Ramps up Diplomacy As World Comes Calling For Vaccines?
“I want to reiterate the statement that was released by Unicef overnight, which outlines the huge shortfall in vaccine supply to COVAX. The surge in cases has compromised global vaccine supply and there is already a shortfall of 190 million doses to COVAX by the end of June,” the Director-General said.
To add to woes, there have been noises of dissent in the US pharmaceutical companies over waiving off intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccine to meet global shortage. Earlier this month, the Biden administration had said that it supports waivers on IP rights for COVID-19.
WEF Cancels Summer Summit
As global cases remain high despite two weeks of dip, the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday said that it has decided to cancel the summer version of its annual meeting that was scheduled to take place in Singapore.
The summit was cancelled as the WEF found it “impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned”.
