WHO

COVID-19 vaccines to be prioritized for some people in all countries, says WHO chief

“Initially, when supply of COVID-19 vaccine is limited, priority must be given to vaccinating essential workers and those most at risk, or in other words, vaccinating some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries,” the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

“In the coming months, we all hope to have good news about a vaccine for COVID-19. But if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively,” the WHO chief said at a press briefing.

Vaccinating essential workers and those most at risk is “not just a moral imperative and a public health imperative, it’s an economic imperative,” he said, adding that as production increases in time, all people everywhere could have access to vaccines.

The WHO chief said that currently nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates are supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), seven of which are in clinical trials. The successful ones will be made available to the COVAX Facility, an international mechanism for ensuring equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

In addition, the WHO is in discussions about four other promising vaccines, he said, while another nine candidates that are in earlier stages of development are being evaluated for inclusion in COVAX.

According to Tedros, some 78 high- and upper-middle income countries and economies have confirmed they will participate in the COVAX Facility, and the number is growing.

Overall, some 170 countries and regions have confirmed their interest in participating in COVAX, according to Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to WHO director-general.

Read alsoCOVID-19 vaccines to be prioritized for some people in all countries, says WHO chief

Read alsoEU signs first deal with AstraZeneca to buy COVID-19 vaccines

September 5, 2020

WHO chief hopes pandemic to last less than two years

The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

GENEVA

The World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that he hopes the COVID-19 pandemic will last less than two years.

“Hoping we can have additional tools like a vaccine, I think we can finish it in a shorter time than the 1918 flu,” he told a press conference in Geneva, referring to the Spanish flu pandemic which claimed millions of lives and took two years to stop.

BERLIN

Germany’s COVID-19 cases rose by 2,034 within one day to 232,082, the highest daily spike since April, the Robert Koch Institute said on Saturday.

The death toll has increased by seven to 9,267.

NEW DELHI

India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 2,975,701 and death toll due to the pandemic in the country also surged to 55,794 on Saturday, revealed the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

As many as 69,878 new cases and 945 deaths were reported during the past 24 hours.

SHANGHAI

Shanghai reported 13 new imported COVID-19 cases and no increase in domestically-transmitted cases on Friday, the municipal health commission said Saturday.

Twelve imported cases are Chinese nationals working, studying or living overseas, and one is a British national.

Read alsoItaly’s COVID-19 infections at highest level since May

August 22, 2020

International assistance flows into Beirut after deadly explosions at port

Various assistance from a dozen of countries and international organizations is flowing to Lebanon after deadly explosions rocked the Port of Beirut, showing international solidarity and humanism.

Two huge explosions rocked Port of Beirut on Tuesday at around 6:10 p.m. local time (1610 GMT), leaving 135 people dead and 5,000 others injured on Wednesday.

CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE

According to local media, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud estimated on Wednesday that the explosions cost the city 3 billion to 5 billion U.S. dollars in property losses, worsening the city and the country’s suffering amid a government reshuffle and COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of the shops in Beirut’s downtown area, which is located near the port, were destroyed. Buildings in other locations in the city were partly if not fully destroyed.

Read alsoOver 73 killed, 3,000 injured as huge explosions rock Lebanon’s capital

Furthermore, according to President of the Syndicate of Hotels Owners Pierre Ashkar, 90 percent of the hotels in the city were damaged while many of the employees and guests injured.

The number of deaths is expected to climb as search and rescue efforts goes on. What led to the blasts is yet to be determined as investigations are ongoing. Primary information reveals that ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse at the port since 2014 is a possible cause.

Besides civilian casualties, over 100 UN staff are also injured in the explosions, including 22 members of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) who were in the port when the blasts occurred.

“We expect that the damage of the port will significantly exacerbate the economic and food security situation in Lebanon, which imports about 80 percent to 85 percent of its food,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“This is a place that’s used both for goods for Lebanon but also for some of our activities in Syria,” he said.

Many countries and international organizations, including the UN, the Arab League and the European Union (EU), have expressed sorrow for and condolences to Lebanon over the deadly blasts.

“Our heartfelt condolences go to the families who have lost their dear ones. Our thoughts are with those who are hurt and injured,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement on Wednesday.

INTERNATIONAL AID

The disaster in Beirut has attracted worldwide sympathy and support as international aid is flowing to Lebanon from the international community.

The World Health Organization is working with the Lebanese Health Ministry to assess hospital facilities in Beirut, their functionality and needs for additional support, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read alsoBeirut blasts death toll rise to 135, state of emergency announced

Upon the request of the UNIFIL, the 18th batch of Chinese peacekeeping troops to Lebanon has organized an emergency team of nine medical personnel carrying medical supplies and protective equipment, heading to the capital city.

Its neighbors in the Middle East have taken swift response on Wednesday.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society announced the shipment of 2,000 packages of food, weighing nine tons, to Lebanon, together with medicines, medical equipment and professionals. They will help to create a hospital in Beirut.

King Abdullah II of Jordan instructed that a military field hospital be sent to Lebanon as a rescue unit, which will be dispatched on Thursday.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Tunisian President Kais Saied respectively ordered food aid and medical supplies be flown to Beirut. Meanwhile, supplies from Qatar and Kuwait also poured in.

Across the Mediterranean Sea, the EU has activated Civil Protection Mechanism, coordinating the urgent deployment of over a 100 firefighters, with vehicles, dogs and equipment, to help Lebanese authorities save lives on the ground.

According to EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic, the mechanism will have participants like Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece and the Czech Republic.

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Germany’s help to Lebanon while French President Emmanuel Macron decided to go to Beirut on Thursday after promising to dispatch a civil security detachment, emergency doctors and several tons of medical equipment.

After five Russian aircraft were reportedly sent to help Lebanon remove rubble resulting from the explosions, Russia said Wednesday that the country will send a group of equipped rescuers to the Lebanese capital, together with an airmobile hospital and a mobile lab.

August 6, 2020

COVID-19 deaths worldwide surpass 650,000, WHO urges action to stop transmission

COVID-19 infections worldwide saw a daily hike of 226,783 in the past 24 hours, staying above 200,000 for 13 consecutive days and bringing the total to 16,341,920, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

The latest situation report released on Tuesday said the death toll around the world increased by 4,153 to 650,805, with the Americas reporting more than half of the fatalities, in terms of the total and daily increase.

Countries around the world should implement strict health measures to suppress the virus transmission and save lives, including mass testing, strict quarantine, social distancing and wearing a mask, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a virtual news briefing on Monday.

“Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they’re not, cases go up,” he said, praising countries such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Thailand, China, Germany and South Korea.

The agency believes that countries have to contain the virus outbreak at home in order to lift travel bans.

“It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future,”

said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program.

“Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume,” he said.

LATEST: Coronavirus – Registered infections in Hungary increase by nine

Read alsoCoronavirus – Registered infections in Hungary increase by nine

July 29, 2020

Novel coronavirus could have existed long before outbreak, says WHO official

The novel coronavirus could have existed in a dormant state long before its outbreak, Melita Vujnovic, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to Russia, has said.

“WHO has established a large team that will work together with Chinese scientists to analyze the origin of the virus,” Vujnovic said in a recent interview with RIA Novosti news agency.

Read alsoTravelling abroad under the shadow of the epidemic’s second wave

“This virus lived in animals and at some point passed to humans. It’s hard to say when and where this happened. It’s being investigated.

Viruses can be found in waste water. But nothing can be said specifically,” she said.

The novel coronavirus has existed worldwide and broke out whenever and wherever favorable conditions occurred rather than starting in China, Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford and a visiting professor at Newcastle University, said earlier this month.

Read alsoTravel restrictions introduced in Hungary to prevent import of virus from abroad

Spanish virologists have discovered traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona waste water collected in March 2019, nine months prior to the virus outbreak in China.

According to the Italian National Institute of Health, samples of sewage water from Milan and Turin showed traces of the novel coronavirus on Dec. 18, long before the country’s first confirmed cases.

Vujnovic said that scientists are studying these samples and if there is any “revolutionary result,” the WHO will immediately announce it.

July 13, 2020

U.S. begins to withdraw from WHO

The United States has officially moved to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) as its national count of COVID-19 cases is approaching 3 million with over 130,000 deaths.

On Tuesday, Congress received formal notification of the decision from President Donald Trump, tweeted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

“To call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn’t do it justice. This won’t protect American lives or interests — it leaves Americans sick & America alone,” Menendez said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, confirmed on Tuesday that the United States had submitted its withdrawal notification to Guterres on Monday.

According to the spokesman, the United States is a party to the WHO Constitution since June 1948, and its participation in the organization was accepted by the World Health Assembly “with certain conditions set out by the U.S. for its eventual withdrawal from the WHO.”

“The said conditions include giving a one-year notice and fully meeting the payment of assessed financial obligations,” said Dujarric.

MOUNTING CRITICISMS

Trump and his administration have repeatedly assailed the WHO for months and threatened to cut ties with the organization. In mid-April, he announced that his administration would halt U.S. funding to the international health agency.

The administration’s move “has few supporters, even from Republicans in Congress,” noted Lauren Clason in a story posted on Roll Call, a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

“I disagree with the president’s decision,” said Chair of Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Lamar Alexander — a top Republican — in a statement.

“Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States, as well as others in the world, need,” said Alexander, the senior Senator from Tennessee.

According to a piece published by the Hill, public health experts and Democrats have also raised alarms that the decision may be “short-sighted and could undercut the global response to the pandemic.”

“The timing of the administration’s decision has drawn intense scrutiny and is likely to spur questions about U.S. involvement in global efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine,” said the Hill report.

“Abandoning our seat at the table leaves the United States out of global decision-making to combat the virus and global efforts to develop and access vaccines and therapeutics, leaving us more vulnerable to COVID-19 while diminishing our position as the leader in global health,” said Thomas File, Jr., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, in a statement.

“This decision is irresponsible, reckless, and utterly incomprehensible. Withdrawing from the @WHO in the midst of the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime is a self-destructive move. More Americans will be hurt by this careless choice,” tweeted Eric Swalwell, representative for California’s 15th congressional district in the House.

BEHIND THE DECISION

In the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, different groups in Washington have…

July 8, 2020

WHO: the pandemic is speeding up globally

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that all countries living with COVID-19 will be the new normal in the coming months, as the pandemic had already infected more than 10 million people worldwide, including nearly 500,000 deaths.

“The critical question that all countries will face in the coming months is how to live with this virus. That is the new normal,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a daily press briefing.

He added that

although many countries have made some progress against the COVID-19, the pandemic is speeding up globally.

According to the latest WHO numbers, as of 3:15 p.m. CEST (1315 GMT) on Monday, the total infected population worldwide had reached 10,021,401, including 499,913 deaths.

“Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world — and our lives — would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus,” the WHO chief said.

“The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity,”

he continued. “All over the world, we have seen heartwarming acts of resilience, inventiveness, solidarity, and kindness. But we have also seen concerning signs of stigma, misinformation and the politicization of the pandemic.”

He urged all countries to prioritize five sets of measures to save lives, including empowering communities and individuals to protect themselves and others, suppressing virus transmission, saving lives with oxygen and dexamethasone for instance, accelerating research on COVID-19, and strengthening political leadership and solidarity.

Latest news on Coronavirus in Hungary HERE.

Tedros also announced an updated and detailed timeline of the WHO’s response to the pandemic for the public to understand how the UN health body has been responding to the outbreak.

Coronavirus – Four die, three new infections in Hungary

June 29, 2020

How can Asian markets recover after Covid-19?

Asia has been a nation of firsts during the coronavirus outbreak, having been the original source of the pandemic, the first region to exit lockdown and now the first to experience second, localised waves of infection.

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reaffirmed that past pandemics have been characterised by waves of activity spread over a period of months, with Beijing one of the first to experience a second spike and a series of local lockdown measures.

This has impacted dramatically on growth forecasts in Asia, while casting doubt on the long-term potential for recovery.

But what has been done so far, and how else can nations look to recover post the first wave of Covid-19 infections?

The Impact of Coronavirus and the Response so Far

As the initial wave of infections and the peak of the virus has passed, attention has turned to the widespread social-economic impact of the outbreak.

To this end, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that total growth in Asia will stall at zero percent in 2020, with this representing the region’s worst economic performance in more than 60 years.

China remains the poster boy for this decline, with this nation’s growth declining from 6.1% in 2019 to a projected low of just 1.2% this year.

However, the initial response by China and other Asian nations has been swift and largely effective, with a raft of countries introducing various quantitative easing measures and economic stimulus packages.

This is best embodied by the efforts of economically liberated nations such as South Korea, which has formulated a cumulative stimulus package worth 270 trillion won ($221.8 billion) in response to the coronavirus outbreak. This is equivalent to approximately 14% of South Korea’s GDP, while its main focus is to support jobs and safeguard those who have lost their income stream.

At the heart of this package is a concerted drive to slash base interest rates, which in the case has served to deliberately devalue the national currency while driving international exports as a way of supporting trade and business.

This trend is prevalent throughout Asia, with many economies in the region built on manufacturing and the global export of raw materials and valuable commodities.

What Other Steps Can Asia Take to Recover from Covid-19?

From a longer-term perspective, there are other steps that Asian nations can take to boost their post Covid-19 recovery.

Take Vietnam, for example, which like many Asian nations is heavily reliant on tourism and has seen a significant decline in the number of international visitors received this year.

However, the Vietnamese government has pledged to invest huge amounts into its local hotels and transportation links (including domestic flights), in a bid to optimise domestic tourism and negate the shortfall in visitors from overseas.

Beyond this, there are also calls for Asian nations to capitalise on the opportunities created by the pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures, particularly in terms of their core business practices and willingness to embrace renewable technologies.

Interestingly, China was already poised to become the world’s renewable energy superpower before the outbreak hit, following a sustained investment in this space. If this trend continues, Asia may well be able to recover from coronavirus on the back of a genuinely progressive shift from the current ‘business and usual’ model.

June 29, 2020

WHO: Europe seeing resurgence of COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s repeated warning of a possible resurgence of COVID-19 in the European region has now become a reality, Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said Thursday.

“Last week, Europe saw an increase in weekly cases for the first time in months,” Kluge said at a press conference here.

Read alsoEU “determined” to protect its external borders, says EU foreign policy chief

The WHO official noted that 30 countries in the region had seen increases in new cumulative cases over the past two weeks, and “in 11 of these countries, the accelerated transmission has led to a very significant resurgence.”

Poland, Germany, and Spain recently saw a resurgence of COVID-19 clusters at schools, coal mines, and food production facilities, according to Kluge.

Despite commending these countries for their “controlled, rapid and targeted interventions,” he warned that health systems are being brought to “the brink once again in Europe.”

Read alsoUK PM says 2-meter social distancing rule to be cut to “1 meter plus”

However, Kluge saw a light of hope in the messages he received from health ministers in Europe that more and more people were being socially responsible and “adhering to physical distancing and wearing facial masks.”

Moreover, Kluge urged authorities in the region to use digital tools wisely while building trust by respecting privacy and addressing the digital gap.

“The full potential of digital health is yet to be realized. It is about empowering people to make healthy lifestyle decisions to create a European culture of health,” he said.

June 25, 2020

EU must focus on jobs for Europeans, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó

The European Union should prioritse replacing jobs lost to the coronavirus epidemic, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.

After attending a videoconference of EU’s foreign ministers, Szijjártó said on Facebook that before the pandemic, ministers had talked about “the need for legal migration and importing labour to the EU”. Now “hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs.”

The meeting focused on renegotiating a 20-year agreement between the EU and 79 countries in Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean on economic and migration cooperation.

“Aid must be delivered to where the problem occurs; problems shouldn’t be imported to places that are problem-free,”

Szijjártó said. Aid to Africa, the Pacific and Caribbean should be in the form of economic development programmes implemented there “rather than bringing people here”.

“We must be clear and straightforward: we continue to consider illegal migration, as well as any attempt to legalise illegal migration, to be unacceptable”

Szijjártó said. The Hungarian government made it clear to the European Commission that it would only support a new agreement with the 79 countries “if no reference is made to the United Nations Migration Compact”, he said.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó noted that World Health Organisation head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus briefed the Council on the novel coronavirus pandemic. Global trends, he said, were still worrying, with over a hundred thousand new cases reported each day, indicating the possibility of a second wave. He said preventive measures must be maintained until a vaccine is available.

Hungarian government to scrap transit zones

The WHO has asked the EU to help regions where the coronavirus situation is deteriorating, Szijjártó noted. Hungary has participated in Visegrad Group efforts to provide Libya with a 35-million-euro aid package for border control, he noted. A portion of this sum can be used for virus prevention, he added.

He said

Hungary prioritised aiding neighbouring countries, however. “If there’s a problem in the neighbourhood, it could very soon come over here.”

June 8, 2020

Rumor Buster: Is 5G network responsible for rapid spread of novel coronavirus?

Rumor has it that the fifth-generation (5G) telecoms network is speeding up the spread of the novel coronavirus as the cellular network suppresses people’s immune systems.

The fact is, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and some fact-checking organizations, there is no evidence that 5G has anything to do with the spread of COVID-19.

Full Fact, a British independent fact-checking charity, has debunked such rumor by saying that

“The main implication of the claim — that 5G can impact immune systems — is totally unfounded. There is no evidence linking the new coronavirus to 5G,” according to Business Insider.

5G is the next generation of wireless network technology, which will offer faster connection speed than its previous generations such as 4G, 3G or 2G, and 5G mobile data is transmitted over radio waves — a small part of the whole electromagnetic spectrum (which includes microwaves, visible light and X-rays).

Read alsoBreaking news – Huawei building 5G network in Hungary!

“These radio waves are non-ionising, meaning they don’t damage the DNA inside cells, as X-rays, gamma rays and UV rays are able to do,” Southampton local newspaper Daily Echo quoted a report from Full Fact as saying.

The WHO also noted that viruses cannot travel on mobile networks or radio waves. “COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. People can also be infected by touching a contaminated surface and then their eyes, mouth or nose,” it said.

Moreover, the international health body pointed out that COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.

Full Fact also noted that many of the hardest-hit countries have no 5G coverage, such as Iran. Iran, with 160,696 COVID-19 cases reported up to now, has no 5G masts.

Read alsoCanada close to launching its 5G network, Hungary following suit

In late May, Australian Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher also warned people about misinformation linking COVID-19 to 5G mobile technology.

“Any suggestions that there is a link between 5G and coronavirus are utterly baseless,” said Fletcher.

June 4, 2020

How would U.S. exit from WHO harm global fight against COVID-19?

The U.S. exit from the World Health Organization (WHO) would undermine international efforts to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic that guarantee public health and save lives, officials and experts across the world have warned.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that his country is “terminating” its relationship with the WHO. The announcement came days after the White House, in a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, threatened to make the temporary freeze of U.S. funding “permanent” and reconsider its membership in the organization.

Read alsoTrump says halting U.S. funding to WHO

Experts have voiced concerns over the decision made by the U.S. government, saying the move is undermining the irreplaceable role of the WHO in coordinating global efforts in combating COVID-19 and delivering necessary aid to developing and particularly under-developed countries whose public health systems are very vulnerable.

For those countries which are still struggling with the rising COVID-19 cases and are highly dependent on the guidance, equipment and concrete life-saving services provided by the WHO, the U.S. funding freeze is no doubt a fatal shock, they said.

Dad Mohammad Annabi, an Afghan researcher and editor-in-chief of the Islah Daily, said: “Cutting more than 400 million U.S. dollars to the WHO definitely would undermine the global health agency’s performances including the war on COVID-19 and research on how to make a vaccine to cure the killing disease in the world.”

“Afghanistan is part of the international community and like other nations has been fighting COVID-19, and certainly a financial cut to the WHO would undermine the entity’s support to Afghanistan,” Annabi said.

Trump’s plan has also triggered widespread criticism from the international community, even from the traditional allies of the United States. The U.S. exit from the WHO is contrary to multilateralism and would disrupt global efforts to fight against the virus, especially those in vaccine development.

Read alsoWorld leaders call for unity, stronger role for WHO in fighting COVID-19

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement that

“the WHO needs to continue being able to lead the international response to pandemics, current and future.”

“For this, the participation and support of all is required and very much needed. In the face of this global threat, now is the time for enhanced cooperation and common solutions. Actions that weaken international results must be avoided,” they said in the statement.

“In this context, we urge the U.S. to reconsider its announced decision,” they said in the statement.

Irish Minister for Health Simon Harris described Trump’s plan to cut ties with the WHO as an “awful decision” on Twitter.

“Awful decision. Now more than ever the world needs multilateralism. A global pandemic requires the world to work together,” Harris tweeted.

Apart from criticism from the international community, Trump’s announcement also triggered disagreement across the United States. The country alone has reported more than 1.7 million COVID-19 cases with over 104,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Both figures are far higher than those in any other country or region.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law and director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, described the move as “foolish and arrogant” on Twitter.

“Trump’s action is an enormous disruption and distraction during an unprecedented health crisis,” said Gostin, also the director of the WHO collaborating center on national and global health law.

“The President has made us less safe.”

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said that “the United States cannot eliminate this virus on its own and to withdraw from the World Health Organization — the world’s leading public health body — is nothing short of reckless.”

June 1, 2020

World leaders call for unity, stronger role for WHO in fighting COVID-19

The world must be united and the irreplaceable World Health Organization (WHO) should play a stronger role in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis, said world leaders at the first ever virtual session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) that opened on Monday.

“COVID-19 must be a wake-up call,” said United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when opening the 73rd session of the WHA focusing on the pandemic that has infected over 4.5 million people and taken away more than 300,000 lives globally in a matter of months.

“We have seen some solidarity, but very little unity, in our response to COVID-19,” deplored the UN secretary general.

“Many countries have ignored the recommendations of the World Health Organization,” he said. “Consequently, the virus has spread across the world.”

Guterres reiterated the UN’s call for a coordinated large-scale response led by the WHO with emphasis on solidarity with developing countries and vulnerable people.

“Unless we control the spread of the virus, the economy will never recover,” the secretary general said. “We must massively increase the resources available to the developing world.”

Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation that hosts the WHO’s headquarters, thanked the WHO for its tireless commitment to tackle the pandemic.

“Director general (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus), as you go through this crisis, be assured that you have the Switzerland’s full support and cooperation,” she said.

“Our support to you is based on our commitment to multilateralism, solidarity and international cooperation,” added the Swiss president. “Today, more than ever, these things are absolutely essential and they need to be strengthened.”

Calling for more funding for the WHO, she said the organization, which has always managed to learn lessons from the epidemics that it had to deal with, will also be able to carry out a thorough review of the current crisis in order to improve its future emergency management.

French President Emmanuel Macron also stressed the need for more funding for the global health body, which he said plays an “irreplaceable role” in coordinating action thanks to its scientific expertise and knowledge of the situation on the ground.

Calling the assembly “one of the most important assemblies in the history of the WHO,” Macron said that this must be a moment of unity and solidarity, and also a moment of clear thought and effective action.

He urged all stakeholders, including states, organizations, funds, pharmaceutical companies or ordinary citizens, to cooperate with the WHO.

The French president hailed the “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” (ACT) initiative, which is an international cooperation project launched by the WHO in April to speed up the development, production and equitable distribution of new tools, treatments and a vaccine in particular, to combat COVID-19.

“If we deliver a vaccine against COVID-19, it will be a global public good, and everyone must have access to it,” said Macron.

May 19, 2020

This Hungarian beauty is in the WHO’s campaign introducing the job of nurses and midwives – photos

Franciska Németh is a former Hungarian actress who is now working in a Budapest hospital as a nurse and communications advisor. She was chosen to be the face of Hungary in the World Health Organisation’s campaign introducing nurses and midwives.

Ms Németh said to euro.who.int that she has already interviewed musicians and celebrities and done photoshoots for fashion magazines, but she has never felt as cool as nowadays when she puts on her uniform and scrubs. Franciska Németh is

currently studying nursing at the Semmelweis University in Budapest

where she is a third-year student aiming to get her Bachelor’s degree soon.

Before her undergraduate studies, Franciska underwent advanced vocational training in nursing and now works at the paediatric surgery and traumatology department of the St John Hospital in Budapest, euro.who.int reports.

Franciska became well-known in Hungary for her role in the Hungarian soap opera, Barátok közt, in which she already portrayed a nurse in 2003. However, today, the 34-year-old woman says that “nothing is more rewarding and exciting than working with young patients in the emergency ward.”

After she finished acting, she tried her luck in public relations and communications, but she soon realised that she would like to do something worthwhile and meaningful

where she could make a difference to someone’s life.

“I completed the advanced vocational training to become a nurse and then decided to also pursue a 4-year-long Bachelor’s degree while working. Eventually, I want to do a Master’s degree as well. There are numerous career opportunities in nursing, though emergency care is the area I want to work in,” she explained to the WHO.

She says that every day is different in the traumatology department, and she likes that. Therefore, she always returns home feeling profoundly satisfied and accomplished.

“My priority is always to make the patient feel safe.

I involve them, explaining clearly what is happening and making sure they understand. The way I communicate has to be age-appropriate, and I offer emotional support when needed. I need to be able to shift and adapt rapidly to patients’ diverse needs several times a day while coordinating with colleagues in a fast-paced setting,” she added.

Since she is well-known in Hungary, she tries to use her “star powers” to inspire the new generation of nurses. She says that the world is in critical need of more healthcare professionals, including nurses, who play an essential role in providing quality care. This is why she often goes to schools to talk about the beauty of the profession and her own experience of how

a nurse can make a positive impact on everyone’s life.

Franciska Németh is not only a nurse but also a start-up owner. She and Barbara Kovács started GyermekSOS.hu a couple of years ago where parents can find where they can go with their injured children to receive proper care, Szeretlek Magyarorszag reported.

The reason behind the WHO’s campaign is that 2020 is the year of nurses and midwives, so they try to draw attention to the beauty and importance of these two professions.

May 17, 2020

What individuals should do when coronavirus lockdown is lifted

After seeing heartening results of months of containment measures, many countries have started relaxing their measures and resuming work, which makes individual protection even more important.

Italy, France, Spain and Australia have all announced phase-by-phase plans to lift their lockdowns. Germany has given the green light to stores and schools to reopen. And for Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will unveil a lockdown exit roadmap on Sunday.

Countries must ease lockdowns gradually, while still being “on the look-out” for COVID-19 and ready to restore restrictions if the coronavirus jumps back, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 1.

So, what should individuals do to better protect themselves after their countries lift restrictive measures before the pandemic is over?

Current information suggests that the two main routes of transmission of the coronavirus are respiratory droplets and contact, according to the WHO. Therefore, keeping wearing personal protective equipment helps.

“Wearing a medical mask is one of the prevention measures that can limit the spread of certain respiratory viral diseases, including COVID-19,” the WHO said in an interim guidance published in April.

But the WHO said on its website that “masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.”

Besides, measures like covering the mouth and nose with a tissue or a bent elbow while coughing or sneezing and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces including tables, doorknobs, phones, and keyboards are all good habits, as suggested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As more countries allow outdoor activities, the U.S. CDC suggests not to visit parks that were recently exposed to COVID-19 or crowded ones.

The WHO also discourages going to crowded places as people are more likely to come into close contact with someone that has COIVD-19 and it is more difficult to maintain a proper physical distance.

Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on Friday discussed in a report how to overcome post-lockdown mass mobility challenges and incorporate social distancing as the “new normal.”

“Since this crisis is ‘novel,’ we need to come up with solutions which weren’t thought of before, or were rejected for being too futuristic or impractical for a developing and densely populated nation like India,” said Paresh Rawal from the ORF.

To date, over 3.7 million people have been infected with the coronavirus, and about 260,000 people have died globally from COVID-19, according to the WHO situation report on Friday.

May 9, 2020

WHO reiterates novel coronavirus is “natural in origin”

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday reiterated that the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19 is “natural in origin.”

Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a virtual press conference from Geneva that scientists who are examining the genetic sequences of the virus have assured “again and again that this virus is natural in origin.”

Answering a question from the press, Ryan said that for WHO the real question now is what the natural host for this virus is and how the animal human species barrier was breached.

“The purpose of the understanding is that we can put in place the necessary prevention and public health measures to prevent that happening again,” he said.

Last month, the WHO said that all available evidence has suggested that the new coronavirus has an animal origin, and is not a virus “manipulated or constructed” in a lab or somewhere else.

WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib told a press conference on April 21 that there is certainly an intermediary host, another animal, that transmitted the disease from bats to humans.

“WHO is, as I said, a science-based organization, and we think the origin is animal,” the spokesperson said, “It (the novel coronavirus) most probably has its ecological reservoir in bats, but how the virus came from bat to human is still to be seen, to be discovered.”

She pledged that the WHO welcomes all countries to support efforts to find the origin of the virus, noting that several working groups, including Chinese experts, are very active trying to find the origin of this virus.

Read alsoWHO reiterates novel coronavirus is “natural in origin”

May 2, 2020

WHO says novel coronavirus not manipulated or constructed

All available evidence to date suggests that the novel coronavirus, which has caused the ongoing pandemic, has a natural animal origin and is not a manipulated or constructed virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a daily situation report on Thursday.

“Many researchers have been able to look at the genomic features of SARS-CoV-2 and have found that evidence does not support that SARS-CoV-2 is a laboratory construct,” said the global health watchdog, stressing that if it were a constructed virus, its genomic sequence would show a mix of known elements, but “this is not the case.”

The novel coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, was identified in early January and its genetic sequence shared publicly on Jan. 11-12, the WHO noted.

According to the United Nations specialized agency, the full genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus from the early human cases and the sequences of many other viruses isolated from human cases from China and all over the world showed that the novel coronavirus has an ecological origin in bat populations.

Although the intermediate animal host has not been identified, the WHO said, all available evidence indicated the novel coronavirus has a zoonotic source.

To better understand the source of the outbreak in China, a number of investigations are currently underway or planned.

April 24, 2020

Coronavirus in Hungary – Death toll at Pesti Road elderly care home 27

So far, 27 residents died in an elderly care home in Budapest’s eastern suburbs, the chief medical officer told an online press conference on Tuesday, adding that in a second round of testing another 58 residents and 4 employees proved infected with the novel coronavirus.

Cecília Müller said that those infected will be isolated within the facility in Pesti Road. She added that elderly home residents treated in hospital cannot be released before two consecutive samples come back negative.

So far, the virus has spread to 20 retirement homes, three of which have a relatively high case count, she said.

Only a couple of people are infected in the rest of the homes, Müller said, adding that those residents would be monitored for symptoms.

Müller said that homes for the elderly were being inspected nationwide, and health authorities would soon start disinfecting them in cooperation with the army.

Meanwhile, she said the head of the local office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recently assessed the status of the epidemic in Hungary and had backed the testing methods employed by the health authorities. Müller cited the head of the office as saying that

coronavirus testing in Hungary was widespread enough.

Hungary tests 30 people around every confirmed Covid-19 patient compared with the WHO’s recommendation of ten tests, she added.

As regards estimates that Hungary could hit the peak of the virus around May 3, Müller said the projection did not mean that the epidemic would end on that day, adding that it was impossible to know how long the plateau would last.

She noted that the number of novel coronavirus cases in Hungary has reached 2,098, with 213 fatalities and 287 recoveries. Altogether 842 people are in hospital, 82 of whom require ventilation, she said. Details HERE.

Speaking at the same press conference, a spokesman for the board coordinating Hungary’s response to the epidemic, said that

the time for guest workers on their way from Ukraine, Romania and Serbia to Western Europe has been restricted to a daily four hours at Záhony, Nagylak and Röszke border stations.

The workers cannot leave designated transit routes while in Hungary, and the time for them to cross the western border has also been restricted, Róbert Kiss said.

The authorities have so far taken action over the violation of curfew rules in 27,497 instances, he said. A total of 14,946 people have been issued warnings, 6,568 have been fined and misdemeanour charges have been filed against 5,983, he added.

As regards epidemic-related legal action, Kiss noted that proceedings have been launched in 255 instances.

Read the latest news on coronavirus in Hungary

April 21, 2020