teleSUR – The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Monday assured that humanity has the means to halt the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought about 20,085,336 confirmed cases and 735,042 deaths so far.
“There are green shoots of hope and no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is, it’s never too late to turn the outbreak around,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering. Every life lost matters. I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world,” he added.
The WHO Director said that there is evidence throughout the world that shows the pandemic can be contained.
“Chains of transmission have been broken by a combination of rapid case identification, comprehensive contact tracing, adequate clinical care for patients, physical distancing, mask-wearing, regular cleaning of hands, and coughing away from others,” he said.
Given the proximity of the start of school activities in many countries, the WHO director warned that it is necessary to ensure that students and teachers are safe.
The WHO director said that over US$100 billion is needed for vaccines alone but only 10 percent of that amount has been received up to now.
“This sounds like a lot of money and it is. But it’s small compared to the US$10 trillion that has already been invested by G20 countries in fiscal stimulus to deal with the consequences of the pandemic so far,” he said.
