WHO says we can bring COVID pandemic under control within months - 'The choice is ours' - Yahoo News Australia

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the pandemic could be brought under control in a “matter of months” depending on the actions of individual governments.

WHO director general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said in a news conference on Monday that public health measures and global vaccine equity would curb the transmission and deadly impacts of coronavirus.

The director general pointed out that January and February saw six consecutive weeks of declining COVID-19 cases worldwide.

He said: "Several countries in Asia and the Middle East have seen large increases in COVID-19 cases.

The WHO has repeatedly warned of a “moral catastrophe” as rich countries buy up vaccine supplies, racing to vaccinate their entire populations while vulnerable groups in poorer countries are left with none.

The UK is among the countries racing ahead, having administered the first dose to 32 million people out of a population of 66 million.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, she urged caution, saying: "We need headlines around these public health and social measures, we need headlines around the tools that we have right now that can prevent infections and save lives.

"It's the seventh week in a row where we've had more than 4.4 million new cases reported in the last week (around the world).

"If you compare that to a year ago we had about 500,000 cases being reported per week...

Last week, she said, 4.4 million new infections were reported, up from about 500,000 cases at this time a year ago.