The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is unacceptable that 15,000 people around the world lost their lives to Covid-19 in the past week, especially when “we now have all the tools to prevent infections and save lives.”
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the reported number of deaths globally over the past four weeks had increased by 35 per cent.
“We’re all tired of this virus, and tired of the pandemic. But the virus is not tired of us,” he said during a briefing in Geneva, late last night.
Locally, Malaysia recorded 61 Covid-19 deaths last week, making it 36,070 fatalities. The last time Malaysia had more than 60 deaths was in the week of April 16-22 (85). However, there were more recoveries (28,098) than new cases (27,028), for the third consecutive week.
Ghebreyesus said with colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere and people spending more time indoors, the risk of more intense transmissions and hospitalisations will only increase in the coming months – not only for Covid-19, but for other diseases, including influenza.
“But none of us is helpless – please get vaccinated if you are not, and if you need a booster shot, get one. Wear a mask when you can’t distance yourself, and try to avoid crowds, especially indoors.
“There is a lot of talk about learning to live with this virus. But we cannot live with 15,000 deaths a week. We cannot live with mounting hospitalisations and deaths. We cannot live with inequitable access to vaccines and other tools,” he said.
He added learning to live with Covid-19 does not mean pretending it’s not there. It’s about using the tools we have to protect ourselves, and others.
According to the WHO, Omicron remains the dominant variant, with the BA.5 sub-variant representing more than 90 per cent of sequences shared in the last month.
However, the world health body noted the number of sequences shared per week had fallen by 90 per cent since the beginning of this year, and the number of countries sharing sequences had dropped by 75 per cent, making it so much harder to understand how the virus might be changing.
