EFE.- The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, assured this Friday that it is possible to end the Covid-19 pandemic this year if governments show more ambitions in terms of vaccination and testing.
“The virus is treatable, we can save lives and the virus can be controlled, even among high-risk populations,” Guterres pointed out during a coronavirus meeting organized during the week of the UN General Assembly.
The head of the organization stressed that the end of the pandemic is in sight if two main problems are solved: the low number of booster doses that have been administered in poor countries – even among their health personnel – and if the guard regarding evidence.
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Guterres warned that the number of tests done for the disease is plummeting everywhere, exposing the world to potential new variants and potentially undermining the success of new treatments to fight the virus.
His analysis was shared by the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who at another event held today in New York assured that the world was never in a better position than this to end the global emergency.
As he explained, the number of weekly deaths is at its lowest since the start of the pandemic and two-thirds of the world’s population is vaccinated, including 75 percent of healthcare workers and the elderly.
Tedros, like Guterres, clarified, however, that “there is still a lot to do” given the differences in vaccination between some places and others, the drop in the number of tests carried out and the difficulties in accessing antivirals.
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On the other hand, both the UN and the WHO have insisted that it is now essential to invest in early warning systems, in the production of medical supplies locally and in a well-paid and well-equipped healthcare workforce to be ready for the next pandemic.
“We can never be so unprepared again,” Guterres warned in his speech.
Spain co-chaired, together with the United States, Bangladesh and Botswana, one of the two meetings focused on covid-19 that were held today in parallel at the General Assembly.
It was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who also held a bilateral meeting with the Director General of the WHO to transfer the support of his government to the work of this agency.
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