A number of countries in the world have begun to loosen the rules for health protocols (prokes), including in Indonesia. The World Health Organization, WHO, has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus conveyed this in front of representatives of the Ministry of Health from 194 countries at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
This is the first time the World Health Assembly can be held again in person since 2019. On that occasion Tedros asked the ministers, where is the world position right now, after two years of experiencing the worst health crisis in this century.
"So, is COVID-19 over? No, it's not over. I know that's not the message you all want to hear, and that's definitely not the message I want to convey," Tedros said as quoted by the news on the UN's official website.
He added that although in many countries all restrictions have been lifted and life is starting to look like it was before the pandemic, reported cases are increasing in nearly 70 countries across all regions.
"And this is in a world where testing rates have plummeted," he added.
Tedros warned that reported deaths were also increasing in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccination coverage.
"This virus has taken us by surprise at every turn. A hurricane that has hit society time and time again, and we still cannot predict its course, or its intensity," warned Tedros.
COVID-19 response gap
Tedros agrees that there has been a lot of progress in the medical and scientific fields since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 60% of the world's population has been vaccinated. But Tedros cautioned that nearly a billion people in low-income countries remain unvaccinated.
"It's not over until it's over everywhere. Only 57 countries have vaccinated 70% of their population. Almost all of them are high-income countries," he said.
The WHO warns that increased transmission means there will be more deaths and more risk of new variants emerging, and a decline in current testing and sequencing would mean we turn a blind eye to the evolution of the virus.
He also pointed out that in some countries there is still insufficient political commitment to launch a vaccine, and there are still gaps in operational and financial capacity.
"And overall, we see hesitancy for vaccination driven by misinformation and disinformation," he added.
Tedros said the WHO's main focus now was to support countries vaccinating as quickly as possible. But they still face problems in terms of supply of tests and healing therapies with insufficient funds and access.
"The pandemic will not magically disappear. But we can end it. We have the knowledge, we have the tools. Science has given us the edge," he said, calling on all countries to work together to achieve vaccination coverage of up to 70%.