“Compounded by more transmissible variants, like Delta, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries, we are during a very dangerous period of this pandemic,” Ghebreyesus said.
Ghebreyesus said that terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm in countries with low vaccination coverage, adding that no country is “out of the woods yet”. Terming the Delta variant “dangerous”, the top of the UN health agency warned that the Delta variant is constant to evolve and mutate. He also advised governments for constant evaluation and careful adjustment of the general public health response.
The WHO chief underlined that there are essentially two ways for countries to keep off against new surges in Covid-19 cases. He stressed that public health and social measures like strong surveillance, strategic testing, early case detection, isolation and clinical care remain critical, adding that masking, physical distance, avoiding crowded places and keeping indoor areas well ventilated are required to stay the surge in restraint .
"And second, the planet must equitably share protective gear, oxygen, tests, treatments and vaccines," said Ghebreyesus.
He also urged Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna to share mRNA technology and know-how to assist new manufacturing hubs accelerate the assembly of Covid-19 vaccines. He lamented that though some sharing of Covid-19 vaccines are happening, “it’s still only a trickle, which is being outpaced by variants.”
“The sooner we start building more vaccine hubs and upping global vaccine capacity, the earlier we will diminish deadly surges," Ghebreyesus added.
