The head of the World Health Organization is very concerned about the rising number of global COVID deaths, he said Tuesdaymere days before its committee meets to decide whether to end or extend the global public health emergency.
Global COVID deaths have been increasing since December, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference, adding that in the past eight weeks, 170,000 people have died due to the virus.
Thats just reported deaths, he said. The actual number of deaths is much higher.
The global public health organizations emergency committee will meet Friday to determine whether to end its COVID emergency status after three years. Ghebreyesus said he would not preempt the committee but remains very concerned by the situation in many countries and the rising number of deaths.
While clearly were in better shape than we were three years ago when the pandemic hit, the global collective response is once again under strain, he said.
Factors causing strain include the fact that too few people are vaccinated and boosted and too few people have access to antivirals, in addition to the fragility of a health care systems dealing with other viruses like the flu and RSV. Also contributing is a torrent of pseudoscience and misinformation, he added.
My message is clear: Do not underestimate this virus, he said. It has, and will continue, to surprise us, and it will continue to kill unless we do more.
Death toll doesnt factor in China
Reported COVID deaths sat at 53,000 for mid-December through mid-Januaryan increase of 20% over the same period a month ago, the WHO said in a Jan. 19 epidemiological update. The total did not include the nearly 60,000 COVID deaths reported by China over a similar period, as the WHO was awaiting additional details on them, the report stated. Global reported deaths for the pandemic sat at 6.7 million.
Reported deaths have been rising in the Americas and Europe, as well as the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions, over the past month. Reported deaths fell by 76% in Africa and 56% in South-East Asia over the same period.
In mid-December Ghebreyesus had said he was hopeful that the global public health emergency would end in 2023. At the time, global weekly deaths sat at 10,000, a fifth of what they were during Omicrons peak in January 2022.
Thats still 10,000 too many, and there is still a lot countries can do to save lives, but we have come a long way, he said at the time.
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