“This is not the situation we want it to be in 16 months of pandemic, where we have tested control measures. Now is the time for everyone to do a reality check on what we need to do,” van Kerkhove said. to informative information Monday.
Several countries in Asia and the Middle East have experienced large increases in cases, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who noted that “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures” were the main drivers.
Ghebreyesus stressed that public health measures (use of masks, physical distancing, ventilation, hand hygiene, surveillance, testing, screening, and isolation) work to stop infections and save lives. “A coherent, coordinated and comprehensive approach is needed,” he said.
Iran, which has the highest number of cases and deaths in the Middle East, entered its fourth wave of pandemic last week, the country’s health ministry said last week.
The total number of Covid-19-related cases in the country has exceeded 2 million since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 4,200 patients currently hospitalized in the ICU, a Health Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Currently, more than 4,200 patients are admitted to Iranian ICUs and on Saturday the government imposed a 10-day closure in most of the country.
Sao Paulo authorities justified the reopening of schools, sporting events and construction establishments by noting that employment rates in state intensive care units have fallen from 90.5% to 88.6%.
“This measure clearly shows that the effort made in recent weeks is starting to pay off,” Deputy Governor Rodrigo Garcia said during a press conference on April 9th. But the daily figures are still very serious: on Friday alone, the state registered 20,000 new cases.
Meanwhile, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, ICU employment rates are above 92%, but Mayor Eduardo Paes, however, has decided to ease the restrictions by saying that “our reality does not allow the blockade “during a press conference on Friday, adding that shop owners and the general population are suffering financially from these measures. Still, he said, “It’s not time to relax.”
The third wave in Europe
In Europe, many countries are sailing on the border of a worrying third wave, with a more contagious variant of the virus appearing to be the common culprit of the chaos in Europe.
In Germany, cases are on the rise, with health workers “decomposing” and bed occupancy in the country’s ICU reaching its “maximum,” according to the director of the German intensive care association, which warned on Saturday that, even with a hard closing, the figures will increase over the next 10-14 days.
Last month, critics warned that European coronavirus restrictions have come too late and that continents ’current problems can be traced back to politicians too eager to start relaxing.
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the urgent need for people to be vaccinated to break the third wave.
As part of “Step 2” at the exit of the country closure, non-basic shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and zoos, as well as outdoor areas of pubs and restaurants were reopened.
The lifting of the measures coincided with the fact that the UK met its vaccination target against Covid-19: to offer a dose to all adults over the age of 50, social care workers and clinically vulnerable, he said. on Monday the British government.
A total of around 40 million vaccines have now been administered in the UK, and adults under the age of 50 are expected to start being invited in the next few days.
CNN’s Marcia Reverdosa, Rodrigo Pedroso, Maija Ehlinger, Rishabh M Pratap, Vedika Sud and Esha Mitra contributed to this report.