The world must step up its efforts to fight Covid-19, and countries must not let their guard down, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization warned on Monday, when coronavirus cases all over the world. world increase.
“We are in a very risky period,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan of the World Health Organization. “We have to double down. This is not the period to leave.”
Last week the WHO warned that new cases of Covid-19 were on the rise worldwide after six consecutive weeks of falls. According to the health agency, more than 2.6 million new cases were registered in the last week of February, 7% more than the previous week.
He added that the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas experienced increases of between 6% and 14%.
While vaccines are intensifying in the nation, we cannot drop the guard.
Julie Morita
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
“This is partly due to blockage fatigue, you know. It’s due to people … maybe it gets more informal because they think vaccines are on the way,” Swaminathan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” Monday. New variants can also play an important role, he added.
“We need to … do everything we know to keep these viruses under control, keep transmitting until we have enough vaccines,” he said, warning that health systems could overload again.
“Health workers around the world are exhausted, they have been fighting this for over a year now,” he added.
Other health experts have also expressed that it is not time to be pleased.
Julie Morita, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said it’s important to recognize that infections, hospitalizations, and deaths remain high, even if they have fallen from their peaks in the U.S.
“It’s still necessary to wear masks, do social distancing and avoid large crowds while we get vaccinated,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday.
“Even though vaccines are on the rise for us in the nation, we can’t drop the guard,” he said. “It’s too early to relax.”