Covid-19 cases declining: WHO

NEWLY-reported cases of the Covid-19 have declined for eight weeks in a row, and deaths have declined for seven weeks in a row, an official says.
World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Monday: “This is good news, but, new infections and deaths remain high globally. Last week, more than 2.5 million cases and almost 64,000 deaths were reported – that’s 250 cases and six deaths every minute that we know of.
“The rate of decline in most regions has slowed, and every region has countries that are seeing a rapid increase in cases and deaths.”
Dr Ghebreyesus said the pandemic showed that relying on a few companies to supply global public goods was limiting and dangerous.
“To boost manufacturing, the WHO has continued to call for the sharing of know-how, technology and licenses, and the waiving of intellectual property rights,” he said.
“Enhancing production of health products has been an area of focus for the WHO for several years, but the pandemic has brought it into even sharper focus.
“Just a few weeks ago, the World Health Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on strengthening local production of medicine and other health technologies to improve access.”
In April, the WHO issued a call for expressions of interest to establish technology transfer hubs for the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines.
“Tech-transfer hubs are training facilities where manufacturers from low- and lower-middle income countries can receive training on how to produce certain vaccines, and the licenses to do so.”