In the COVID-19 pandemic, we circulate in all the possible opposite directions

Despite vaccines, the SARC-19 pandemic continues to grow globally with each passing day and the number of dead and sick people is not decreasing, but is increasing and will continue to do so if governments do not take the necessary measures, several World Health Organisation officials and specialists said on Friday.

All of them explained, during the bi-weekly press conference on the epidemiological situation of the pandemic, how the world is moving in the opposite direction on all the fronts we have to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, from the lack of investment in universal health coverage, to the inequality in the distribution of vaccines or the disregard for the minimum health standards of distance and hygiene.

That is why, for the second week in a row, the number of cases of HIV/AIDS-19 globally remains at the highest levels since the start of the pandemic with more than 5.7 million new cases per week, after nine consecutive weeks of increases.

Deaths continue to rise for the seventh consecutive week, with more than 93,000 in the past seven days.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is a vivid demonstration that a health crisis is not just a health crisis; it can have dramatic consequences for livelihoods, businesses and economies," said the UN agency's director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

When health is at risk, everything is at risk," he added. But "when health is protected and promoted, individuals, families, communities, economies and nations can thrive.

That prosperity is embodied in the World Health Organisation's top priority: universal health coverage.
"All roads must lead to universal health coverage. But globally, we are heading in the wrong direction. Around the world, more and more households are spending an increasing proportion of their income on health. And more people are exposed to poverty as a result of their out-of-pocket spending on health," he said.

In Dr Tedros' view, to avoid running counter to this coronavirus and future pandemics, moving towards universal health coverage cannot be a matter for health ministries alone, but requires a whole-of-government approach, with leadership from the highest political levels and close engagement with finance ministries.

"As we recover and rebuild, we have a unique moment to mobilise investments for healthier, resilient, productive and sustainable societies. We need a new narrative that makes health for all the central focus of public policies on innovation, industry, employment, environment and more," he added.

The spread of the virus can be slowed by measures such as quarantines, distancing, the use of masks and the avoidance of crowds, enclosed places and other sanitary measures. Several countries have demonstrated this, as Michael Ryan, the organisation's director of emergencies, explained, referring to the case of the South African variant.

"Without a vaccine, South Africa brought the variant largely under control by implementing public health and social measures, building community support, reducing crowds and public mixing, investing in diagnosis and testing, identifying outbreaks and bringing the disease under control," he explained.

He added: "My concern at the moment is that the virus has enormous energy in some countries and has a massive capacity to infect and we have to stop it, because this has been thanks to both variants and human behaviour and other factors. In many ways, we are pressing three accelerators at the same time when we were expected to be slowing down."

"We need to stop pushing the accelerator," he insisted, which is achieved by vaccinating and protecting the most vulnerable people, and reducing the risk of variant multiplication, which is achieved by preventing crowds and people mixing in poorly ventilated places without the protection of a facemask.

"And I know this is very difficult in some countries, but this is the brutal reality and, in some countries, they have such an infection rate at the moment that their health systems are again under great pressure. We are seeing the tragedy in India and we have to prevent the same tragedy from happening in other countries, but some countries are going in that direction," he said.

One billion vaccines have been given, but 80 per cent have been administered in high-income countries while those with the lowest incomes have received only 0.3 per cent.

"This is unacceptable. This division is unacceptable. And it is unacceptable not only as a moral issue, but because we are not going to defeat the virus in a divided world," said Dr Tedros.

"It is in the interest of all countries of the world to share their vaccines and to help in every way possible to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines," he added. In this regard, Tedros again applauded the US announcement to support the suspension of vaccine patents.

"The announcement by the United States of America that they will support a temporary exemption from intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines is an important statement of solidarity and support for vaccine equity. We are in an unprecedented crisis that requires unprecedented action. Cases are at a record high, nearly 100,000 people are dying worldwide every week and we have a chronic vaccine crisis," he said.