Day: July 7, 2021

“We need higher income countries to finance the procurement of vaccines through the COVAX Facility, and to share vaccines with lower income countries,” Al-Mandhari stressed.

The WHO official further added: “And finally, countries in the Region are not strictly and consistently applying the public health and social measures, with poor adherence among the public.”

He wondered: “How can we, as individuals, protect ourselves? Vaccinated people need to continue adhering to mask use, physical distancing, and other measures, and those who have not yet been vaccinated should do so as soon as they can, to add an extra layer of protection against COVID-19 and its variants, including Delta.”

He added: “More than 18 months into the pandemic, we also need to start thinking about the medium- and long-term actions to be taken to make sure we never find ourselves this vulnerable and exposed again: national capacities need to be strengthened across disease surveillance, laboratory science, clinical management, community engagement, among other areas. Importantly, we need to advance genome sequencing and oxygen production at national level and to build regional capacities for vaccine production. WHO is currently giving high priority to these issues.”

“ll of this requires working together, he urged in order “to benefit from our experiences and maximizing the use of our collective resources.”

“Our Region is rich with human resources, knowledge, and research capacities,” he further explained.

He underscored that “despite the lessons learnt throughout the pandemic – that COVID-19 can only be beaten through cooperation, solidarity, and coordination among countries and communities alike – we are now seeing a very disturbing turn of events, with the politicization of the vaccine rollouts becoming even more evident.”

“It is time to put politics aside for the good of humanity. We will not succeed until everyone is protected – regardless of age, gender, race, geographical location, or political affiliation. We are in this together, and we can only come out of this together.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

“We are working to obtain a better understanding of COVID-19 variants, but we cannot do this without enough in-depth information about how the virus circulates,” Al-Mandhari said.

“We encourage all countries to enhance sequencing capacity and data sharing,” Al-Mandhari added, pointing out that “the more we know about the virus and the impact of its different strains, the better we can adapt our response to defeat it.”

He said: “WHO, of course, is willing to play its role in supporting data collection, analysis, sharing and management.”

Secondly, Al-Mandhari underlined, vaccines are still not being distributed fairly and equitably, giving COVID-19 an opportunity to continue spreading and mutating.”

“We are working hard to make sure that all countries in our Region and beyond have access to enough vaccines so that they can protect their most vulnerable populations,” Al-Mandhari emphasized.

He further added that “More than 500 million doses are still needed to vaccinate at least 40% of the population of every country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region by the end of the year.”

He explained that “We are far, far behind from reaching this goal. For this reason, all countries need to monitor the vaccine rollout and share their experiences, so that we can take action to address challenges related to vaccine supply and vaccine hesitancy.”

He added: “The situation is even more critical in a number of countries facing humanitarian emergencies, where people are already living under extremely challenges conditions, and yet need to be protected as equally as anyone else.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the organization is concerned about another spike in cases due to variants of concern and increased international travel, combined with low protection of people due to limited vaccination uptake and inadequate adherence to prevention measures.

In a statement on COVID-19 in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region issued Wednesday, Al-Mandhari said “In the Eastern Mediterranean Region today, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise after 2 months of steady decline, and we are once again seeing countries struggling to contain infection and protect their populations, while at the same time keeping their borders open and their economies active.”

“As we continue into the summer months, we are concerned about another spike in cases due to variants of concern and increased international travel, combined with low protection of people due to limited vaccination uptake and inadequate adherence to prevention measures,” Al-Mandhari added.

“Despite all efforts, we are seeing a higher weekly average of new cases and deaths across the Region compared to the same time last year. This is due to several factors,” Al-Mandhari explained.

Firstly, Al-Mandhari noted, the Delta variant has been detected in at least 98 countries around the world, including 13 countries in our Region, and is spreading quickly regardless of vaccination coverage.

It is fuelling current surges in cases and deaths. The Delta variant seems to be spreading faster than the original strain, he pointed out.

The rapid spread of the Delta variant is contributing to an increase in disease transmission both globally and in our Region, the WHO official noted, adding that “Countries should prepare by strengthening surveillance and detection, social measures, and ensuring health systems are able to cope with increasing numbers of moderate and severe cases.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Health announced 5 Covid-19 fatalities and 646 new cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 9, 800 and the caseload to 754, 927.

There are currently 6, 824 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan, announced the media statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The statement added that the number of hospitalizations today stood at 63, while 44 patients have recovered and discharged, the statement noted.

According to the briefing, the total number of recoveries recorded on Wednesday, whether at hospitals or at home, stood at 582, bringing the total to 738,303 since the outbreak began.

Moreover, the number of Covid-19 patients still receiving treatment at hospitals countrywide has reached 492.

The statement also indicated that occupancy of the ICU bed capacity has hit 12%, 26%, and 8%, in the northern, central, and southern regions, respectively.

With regard to testing, 22,352 tests were conducted Wednesday, 2.89 percent of which were positive.

Since March, 2020, the total number of tests administered has increased to 8,011,530, the joint statement noted.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The total number of global COVID-19 deaths has surged to 3.9 million, as of Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The University, in its latest update, revealed that the current global caseload has reached about 185 million, while roughly 169 million have recovered from the disease.

Source: Jordan News Agency