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Rabat – COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than one million people so far this year, crossing a “tragic milestone,” the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday.
“We cannot say we are learning to live with COVID-19 when one million people have died with COVID-19 this year alone, when we are two-and-a-half years into the pandemic and have all the tools necessary to prevent these deaths,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Ghebreyesus urged all nations to accelerate efforts to vaccinate all health workers, elderly people, and others at high risk, as part of reaching the goal of a 70% vaccine coverage for the population.
Ghebreyesus indicated that 136 countries failed to reach the 70% target, among which 66 nations have a below 60% coverage. However, he was “pleased to see that some countries with the lowest vaccination rates are now making up ground, especially in Africa,” he added.
Meanwhile, 10 countries, most of which were facing humanitarian emergencies, had less than 10% vaccine coverage.
WHO’s Director General called on governments to “ensure access to life-saving therapeutics, to continue testing and sequencing, and to set tailored, proportionate policies to limit transmission and save lives.”
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According to WHO data, nearly 6.5 million people worldwide have died due to the virus since the virus was first detected in late 2019 in China.
In addition, more than 593 million COVID-19 cases have been reported to the UN health agency. Half of these cases were reported in 2022.
Ghebreyesus made the statements during WHO’s media briefing in Geneva, where he spoke about several global health issues, including COVID-19, Monkeypox, and the war in Ukraine.
As intense transmission of the monkeypox virus continues in North and South America (hosting 60% of reported cases worldwide), Ghebreyesus attributed the outbreak to “insufficient awareness or public health measures” and “lack of access to vaccines.” Meanwhile, the outbreak is slowing in Europe, where reported cases make up less than 40%.
