COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Day 121: WHO chooses Malaysia to test Covid-19
WHO: ‘Chronic’ global shortage of COVID-19 protective gear ‘urgent threat’
GENEVA, Switzerland ?— The dire lack of protective gear for health workers is proving an dire threat to attempts to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization warned Friday.
The WHO urged industrial powerhouse countries to ramp up production of personal protective equipment (PPE) as the global body warned that the battle against the new coronavirus was only just beginning.
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“The chronic global shortage of personal protective equipment is now one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.
“When health workers are at risk, we’re all at risk,” he said.
“This problem can only be solved with international cooperation and solidarity,” said Tedros, adding that health workers in poorer countries deserved the same protection as those in wealthier states.
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Tedros said the WHO had shipped almost two million individual PPE items to 74 countries and was preparing to send a similar amount to a further 60 nations.
He said he had urged the G20 countries to use their “industrial might and innovation” to produce and distribute the tools needed to save more lives.
“We must also make a promise to future generations, saying: ‘never again’,” Tedros added.
“Viral outbreaks are a fact of life. How much damage they do is something we can influence,” he said.
The new coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 25,000 people, with Europe accounting for most of the deaths, according to an AFP tally based on official statistics.
Around 550,000 cases have been registered around the world since the outbreak began in China late last year.
Tedros said that more than 100,000 people had now had the virus and recovered.
He added: “We’re only at the beginning of this fight. We need to stay calm, stay united and work together.”
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– Treatment trials –
Mindful that a safe, properly-tested, preventative vaccine remained at least 12 to 18 months away, Tedros said that in the meantime, trials were under way to find therapeutics that could help treat those already suffering from the virus.
He said that in Norway and Spain, the first patients were about to enrol in the WHO’s so-called solidarity trial, which will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations.
More than 45 countries are taking part in trial and the more that join, “the faster we will have results”, said Tedros.
AFP tallies showed a total of 300,000 cases have now been recorded in Europe, as the United States overtook China and Italy as the country with the most infections.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan stressed that countries should not be punished for racking up large numbers of confirmed cases, creating “perverse disincentives” for broader testing.
Instead, he said, they should be rewarded for rigorous testing of suspect cases.
“Part of that rise in numbers is increased detection due to better testing,” he said.
Ryan stressed that “no-one can predict” how long the pandemic was going to last.
Tedros said 12 million people had signed up to the WHO’s English-language health alerts on the WhatsApp messaging service, while the Arabic, French and Spanish versions launched on Friday.
He said Chinese, Hindi, Russian and Swahili versions would follow shortly, among other languages.
Meanwhile Tedros said there had been increasing cyber-attacks targeting the WHO and scams using its name and his.
“Crises like this bring out the best and worst in humanity,” he said./ Philstar.com
RELATED STORY
WHO chooses Malaysia to test Covid-19 cure
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is among several countries selected by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to carry out the clinical trial on the use of the novel antiviral medicine, Remdesivir, on Covid-19 patients.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia was chosen for the trial because of the Health Ministry’s ability to conduct tests and its good medical system.
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“It will be focused on the (patients at) Sungai Buloh Hospital and others handling Covid-19 cases, whereby the ministry will provide the novel antiviral medicine for the treatment of patients.
“The ministry will also monitor the side effects caused by, and effectiveness of, the medicine,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham said further details like the trial period and others with regard to the effectiveness of Remdesivir would be discussed with WHO later today.
“Tonight we will hold discussions and if we can get a hold of the medicine we will immediately start the clinical trial,” he said.
In another development, he announced that the Health Ministry would work together with other government agencies like the Royal Malaysia Police, Malaysian Armed Fores and Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to use the latest technology and methods to track down targeted Covid-19 high-risk groups and test them.
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“If they are tested positive, we will remove them from the community and treat them in hospitals. If negative, we will recommend that they are quarantined at home for 14 days.
“If those infected are asymptomatic at the initial stage and mildly symptomatic in the second, then their ability to recover is higher compared to those who are already at the fourth or fifth stages, where they have shortness of breath and need respiratory assistance,” he said. – Bernama
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