The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said today, Wednesday, that the global rise in cases of the Corona virus could be the tip of the iceberg, with some countries reporting low testing rates.
New infections jumped 8% globally last week, compared to the previous week.
“Sudden increases are expected, especially in areas where transmission prevention measures have been lifted,” Tedros told reporters. “However, there are unacceptably high levels of mortality in many countries.”
For her part, WHO technical official on the pandemic, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that a combination of factors caused an increase in infections, including the highly contagious Omicron mutant, the lifting of public health measures and social restrictions.
“We fully understand that the world needs and wants to get rid of Covid-19, but this virus is spreading strongly among people,” she added.
A young woman undergoes a Corona examination in Nigeria
Postponing the evaluation of the Sputnik vaccine
In another context, the World Health Organization announced, on Wednesday, the postponement of its evaluation of the Russian Corona virus vaccine, “Sputnik V”, for the time being, due to “different conditions.”
The WHO’s vaccine expert, Dr. Mariangela Simao, said in a press conference that WHO officials were originally scheduled to visit Russia on March 7 to assess the facilities where “Sputnik V” is produced.
“These inspections have been postponed to a later date…the assessment and inspections have been affected by the situation,” Simao added, referring to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
She explained that booking flights has become difficult, in addition to problems with credit cards and “some other operational problems” that the WHO team in Russia may face.
Western countries have largely closed their airspace to Russian aircraft, after Russia launched an operation in Ukraine and imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Russian financial institutions.
In the same context, Simao said: “This matter has been discussed with the Russian side, and new dates will be set as soon as possible.”
The World Health Organization has been evaluating the “Sputnik V” vaccine for emergency use authorization since last year.
The mandate would allow the purchase of Sputnik V as part of the UN-backed Kovacs Initiative’s efforts to distribute vaccines around the world, lending credibility to a vaccine that often faces skepticism.
From the vaccination campaign in Bolivia with the Sputnik vaccine in
A study published in The Lancet in 2020, including more than 20,000 participants, found that “Sputnik V” is 91% safe and effective against infection and highly effective in preventing people from developing severe symptoms from infection with Corona.
However, last October, the South African Medicines Regulatory Authority rejected the vaccine, citing some safety concerns that the Russian manufacturer was unable to respond to.
South African officials said they are concerned that the technology used in the “Sputnik V” vaccine may not be safe for a population with high rates of HIV infection.
For its part, the European Medicines Agency said that its evaluation of the Russian vaccine is still continuing.
This vaccine has been given the green light in more than 80 countries, and so far no major safety problems have arisen from its use.