BERLIN (AP) – The COVID-19 pandemic is “certainly not over yet,” the head of the World Health Organization warned Sunday, despite a drop in reported cases since the peak of the microwave wave. He told governments that “we lower our vigilance at our peril.”
The director-general of the UN health organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told officials gathered in Geneva for the opening of the WHO’s annual meeting that “taking testing and sequencing means blinding ourselves to the evolution of the virus.” He also noted that nearly 1 billion people in low-income countries still have not been vaccinated.
In a weekly report on the global situation on Thursday, WHO said the number of new COVID-19 cases appears to have stabilized since the end of March after weeks of decline, while the total number of weekly deaths fell.
While progress has been made, with 60% of the world’s population vaccinated, “it’s not over until it’s over everywhere,” Tedros said.
“Reported cases are increasing in nearly 70 countries across all regions, in a world where testing rates have fallen,” he added.
Reported deaths are rising in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccination coverage, he said, and only 57 countries — almost all of them wealthy — have vaccinated 70% of their people.
While global vaccine supply has improved, in some countries there is “insufficient political commitment to roll out vaccines” and gaps in “operational or financial capacity” in others, he said.
“Overall, we see the hesitation about vaccines caused by misinformation and misinformation,” Tedros said. “The pandemic will not magically disappear, but we can put an end to it.”
Tedros is expected to be appointed to a second five-year term this week at the World Health Assembly, the annual meeting of WHO member states.
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