COVID-19 death toll crosses tragic 4 million milestone, says WHO Chief Tedros

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday, July 7,  that the Coronavirus mortality rate had surpassed four million for the first time. "The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic," stated WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The bleak milestone was reached as numerous Western countries inch closer to fully freeing their economy. Several Asian countries, however, are experiencing a COVID issue.

4 million killed by COVID-19 pandemic: WHO

The WHO's chief took a swipe at wealthy countries that unlock countries after vaccinating a specific percentage of the population. He claimed that certain countries with high vaccination coverage are "relaxing as if the pandemic has already passed them by." Tedros noted, "Some countries with high vaccination coverage are now planning to rollout booster shots in the coming months and are dropping public health social measures and relaxing as though the #COVID19 pandemic is already over."

He also emphasised the disparity between affluent and poor countries. While wealthy countries are gaining access to Coronavirus vaccinations after buying and administering them, other countries are battling to limit the spread of the Delta variety due to a lack of vaccines.

"Variants are currently winning the race against vaccines because of inequitable vaccine production & distribution, which also threatens the global economic recovery. It didn’t have to be this way & it doesn’t have to be this way going forward," Tedros said.

According to reports, recording two million COVID fatalities took roughly a year. The following two million deaths, on the other hand, occurred in just 166 days. The United States, Brazil, India, Russia, and Mexico account for half of all global mortality. According to the population, Peru, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Gibraltar have the highest death rates, said reports.  This tragic milestone comes as Indonesia experiences its worst-ever COVID crisis, with residents struggling to obtain oxygen cylinders for their loved ones.

Tedros also advised countries to abandon "vaccine nationalism" in favour of donating vaccines to poorer countries through the Covax programme. He asserted, "Vaccine nationalism, where a handful of nations have taken the lion’s share, is morally indefensible & an ineffective public health strategy against a respiratory virus that is mutating quickly & becoming increasingly effective at moving from human-to-human. At this stage in the #COVID19 pandemic, the fact that millions of health and care workers have still not been vaccinated is abhorrent. From a moral, epidemiological or economic point view now is the time for the world to come together to tackle this pandemic collectively."

Meanwhile, the UK has declared that all COVID-related limitations will be lifted by July 19 – a scheme that has sparked outrage around the world. The WHO, on the other hand, has advised great caution when it comes to eliminating COVID limitations. 

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