Overall, however, the UN agency WHO remains cautious. A way of recalling its “deep concern” at the current epidemiological picture of the new coronavirus, “with both intense transmission in several regions of the world and a recombinant sub-variant which is spreading rapidly”.
In recent weeks, the WHO has also reported more and more hospitalizations and pressures on the health system”, particularly in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere where there are also respiratory illnesses including the flu. “Every week, about 10,000 people die of Covid-19 that we know of,” said Dr Tedros, noting that “the true toll is probably much higher.”
Yet as the planet enters the fourth year of the pandemic, the world is in a much better place than it was several years ago, thanks to clinical care management, vaccines and treatments. “But I believe and hope that with the right efforts, this will be the year when the public health emergency officially ends,” the WHO Director-General said optimistically.
Great inequalities in access to testing, treatment and vaccination
For most of last year, Covid-19 was in “decline”. Immunization has increased worldwide, and sustained progress has been recorded in “many developing countries that were left far behind in 2021 due to the vaccine nationalism and manufacturing capacity limited to a handful of countries”.
For the WHO, new antivirals to save lives were identified last year. “Which helped to further reduce mortality, although the deployment followed a similar pattern: rich countries first,” said Dr Tedros.
Faced with this scenario of inequity, WHO is working, as always, to improve access and announced on Christmas Day that antivirals Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir were prequalified for production by an Indian manufacturer. It is the first generic version of an antiviral to gain WHO approval.
According to the UN agency, this should lead to increased production and access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. “But despite clear progress, the threat of Covid-19 persists,” stressed Dr Tedros, noting that there are still great inequalities in access to testing, treatment and vaccination and, ultimately, then Covid-19 remains a dangerous virus”.