“Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Geneva:
The head of the World Health Organization on Monday called on everyone to keep fighting Covid-19, warning that while we are fed up with fighting the pandemic, the virus “is not tired of us” .
Addressing the main WHO annual meeting, which resumed Monday after being interrupted in May, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said that the election of Joe Biden as the next US president could signal closer global cooperation to end the pandemic.
It was vital, he said, that people follow the science and resist the urge to turn a blind eye to the virus.
“We might be tired of COVID-19. But it’s not tired of us,” he said.
Tedros, speaking of quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, warned that the virus is attacking the weakness.
“It attacks those whose health is poorer, but it also addresses other weaknesses: inequality, division, denial, wishful thinking and willful ignorance,” he said.
“We cannot negotiate with him, nor close our eyes and hope that he will disappear.”
“It ignores political rhetoric or conspiracy theories,” he said.
“Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity.”
His comment came after Covid-19 has killed more than 1.25 million people and infected more than 50 million worldwide since it first emerged in China late last year.
Tedros warned that the pandemic has laid bare the need for the world to regain a “sense of common purpose”, which in recent years has been eroded by “creeping tides of misguided nationalism and isolationism”.
“With that in mind, we congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris and look forward to working closely with their administration.”
Biden has signaled that his administration will overturn Donald Trump’s decision to remove the United States – traditionally the main donor to the WHO – from the United Nations health agency.
“We must reinvent the leadership, based on mutual trust and mutual accountability, to end the pandemic and address the fundamental inequalities that are at the root of so many global problems,” said Tedros.
The resumption of this week’s World Health Assembly will also focus on a wide range of more than 60 other health emergencies that the WHO has responded to this year, including the measles, Ebola and yellow fever outbreaks.
It will also be an opportunity for countries to discuss calls to reform the United Nations health agency and the responsibilities of countries to strengthen preparedness for health emergencies.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
