Coronavirus pandemic ‘a long way from over’: WHO - Al Jazeera English

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says transmission is being driven by ‘complacency and inconsistency in public health measures’.

Confusion and complacency in addressing COVID-19 mean the pandemic is a long way from over, but it can be brought under control in months with proven public health measures, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO team leader on COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, told the news briefing the pandemic was growing exponentially, with a nine percent increase in cases last week, the seventh consecutive week of increases, and a five percent rise in deaths.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Monday it was “morally unconscionable and a serious economic hit” that just 1.1 per 100 Africans had received a vaccine while in North America the rate was over 40 per 100.

Africa now imports 99 percent of all its vaccines, but should aim to reduce imports to around 40 percent by 2040, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said.

She encouraged WTO members to find a “pragmatic outcome” to a proposal by India and South Africa that vaccine and other medical patents be suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic to speed up technology transfers to manufacturers with spare production capacity.