Head of World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared concerns over the “alarming rate” of COVID-19 global spread among individuals between the age of 25 and 59.
The World Health Organization held a global COVID-19 press conference on Monday. It focused on updates, as well as the “linkages” of the climate to the pandemic crisis, ahead of Earth Day.
The event welcomed three guests, including Greta Thunberg. Reuters said that she “took a swipe at ‘vaccine nationalism’,” adding the she also urged young people to get vaccinated if given the opportunity.
As for the updates on the pandemic, the head of the organization stated that the world can bring the crisis “under control” in the next few months. This comes with reservations, though, which Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained during the conference.
Increased transmissions
Speaking on the news briefing, the WHO chief asserted that the world has all the “tools to bring this pandemic under control” in just a few months. He emphasized, however, that this may happen if everyone applies these tools “consistently and equitably.”
Despite the positive outlook, he shared his concerns over the “alarming rate” of COVID-19 transmission among individuals in the age range of 25 to 59. As noted, this can be likely credited to the “much more contagious variants” of the virus.
While it took nine months to reach a million deaths, the figure doubled in just four months. Consequently, he said that another million deaths added to the data in three months.
During the same briefing, Maria van Kerkhove asserted that the surge in cases “included increases among age groups” that are previously less affected by the pandemic crisis. She noted that the public is now seeing “increased rates of transmission across all age groups.”
The epidemiologist continued that there is now a “slight age shift in some countries,” with “social mixing” as a possible driver. She also added that last week’s reported cases reached nearly 5.2 million. It has become the “highest weekly increase” since the pandemic emerged.
Latest updates on COVID-19 cases
On Worldometers’ data, the pandemic crisis continues to impact over 200 countries and territories across the globe. The latest tallied cases have already reached more than 142 million on Monday.
Although more than 122 million of the total cases are already closed, the number of deaths reached 2 percent, which equates to over 3 million. Meanwhile, the active COVID-19 cases are now more than 18 million, with .06 percent of them are under critical condition.
Images (1) & (2) courtesy of World Health Organization (WHO)/YouTube