“There remains a real and clear threat of the emergence of a new, more virulent type (of SARS-CoV-2) that can avoid exposure to our vaccines,” Ghebreyesus said Friday during the “Globsek-2022” security conference in Bratislava.
In particular, Ghebreyesus said the number of deaths reported in Africa and the Western Pacific was rising.
In America, deaths from Covid-19 disease, as well as infection with it, are increasing, stressing that “it is too early to say that the epidemic is over. It is not over.”
“It is very difficult to predict how the virus will evolve. We know for sure that future options should be more contagious than current options. But we cannot predict how severe it will be in terms of disease severity,” the WHO director said.
As of June 3, the organization has received reports of 528,816,317 people infected with the Corona virus since the beginning of the epidemic, and 6,294,969 deaths.
Within 24 hours, the number of infected people increased by 486,278, and deaths – 1,380.
A panel set up by the World Health Organization to assess the global capacity to respond to epidemics concluded that the world is not in a better position than it was when the Corona virus appeared in 2019, to combat a new epidemic, and may in fact be in a worse position given the economic losses.
In its report, the Independent Commission for Epidemic Preparedness and Response said the lack of progress on reforms such as global health systems means the world is more vulnerable than ever.
The report’s authors, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, also acknowledged some progress, including more funding for the World Health Organization, but said the process was proceeding too slowly.