WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 12 February 2021

• The number of reported cases of COVID-19 globally has declined for the fourth week in a row, and the number of deaths also fell for the second consecutive week. These declines appear to be due to countries implementing public health measures more stringently. 
• Earlier this week, WHO held a global meeting of patients, clinicians and other stakeholders to advance our understanding of what is officially called post-COVID-19 condition, or “long COVID”. WHO released a case reporting form that will allow more data to be collected on long COVID in a standardized way. This will help to improve the understanding, surveillance and clinical management of the condition.  
• Yesterday was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and I would like to pay tribute to all of the incredible women scientists who work for and with WHO all over the world.

India

healthysoch

New Delhi, February 13, 2021 :

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

As you know, the independent expert team to study the origins of the COVID-19 virus has completed its trip to China.

This was an international team comprising experts from Australia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Viet Nam.

The team also included experts from WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health. I want to start by thanking all members of the international team for their work. This has been a very important scientific exercise in very difficult circumstances.

The expert team is working on a summary report which we hope will be published next week, and the full final report will be published in the coming weeks. We look forward to receiving both reports, which will be released publicly.

When the summary report is published, we will hold a further press conference with the full international team. Some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded.

Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies. Some of that work may lie outside the remit and scope of this mission.

We have always said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has added important information that takes us closer to understanding the origins of the virus. The mission achieved a better understanding of the early days of the pandemic, and identified areas for further analysis and research. And we will continue working to get the information we need to answer the questions that still need to be answered.

Today we’re joined by two members of the international mission, Dr Peter Ben Embarek, the team lead of the international mission, and Professor Marion Koopmans, head of the department of Viroscience at the University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Dr Ben Embarek and Professor Koopmans will be available to answer your questions.

Meanwhile, the number of reported cases of COVID-19 globally has declined for the fourth week in a row, and the number of deaths also fell for the second consecutive week.

These declines appear to be due to countries implementing public health measures more stringently. We should all be encouraged, but complacency is as dangerous as the virus itself. Now is not the time for any country to relax measures, or for any individual to let down their guard.

Every life that is lost now is all the more tragic as vaccines are beginning to be rolled out. Alongside traditional public health measures, how quickly we can collectively expand vaccine manufacturing and roll out vaccines to all countries will determine how soon we control the pandemic.

At the beginning of the year I issued a global challenge to ensure that vaccination of health workers and older people is underway in all countries within the first 100 days of 2021.

Next Friday marks day 50. Today, I am inviting everyone to join me in a call to action to accelerate production and share technology so we can produce enough vaccines for the world and share them equitably.

Some people didn’t think it was possible to produce a vaccine so quickly, but it was, and very historic. Never in the history of the world have we developed vaccines in less than a year of the emergence of a new virus.

Now some people say that vaccinating the world is not possible. They’re dead wrong.  As Nelson Mandela, Madiba, said; it always seems impossible until it’s done.  So join me, wherever you live or work, sign on to the new declaration and let’s build a movement to make history together. It’s everybody’s responsibility.

Vaccines are vital not only for saving lives, but also for preventing the long-term effects of COVID-19, which we are only beginning to understand. WHO’s work in this area focuses on three key needs for these patients: recognition, research and rehabilitation.

Earlier this week, WHO held a global meeting of patients, clinicians and other stakeholders to advance our understanding of what is officially called post-COVID-19 condition, or “long COVID”.

This was the first in a series of meetings, and focused on working towards an agreed clinical description of the condition, which will be important for clinicians to diagnose and treat it.

This illness affects patients with both severe and mild COVID-19. Part of the challenge is that patients with long COVID can have a range of different symptoms that can be persistent or can come and go.

Earlier this week, WHO released a case reporting form that will allow more data to be collected on long COVID in a standardized way. This will help to improve the understanding, surveillance and clinical management of the condition.

Given the scale of the pandemic, we expect many people to be affected by post COVID-19 condition. And, of course, the best way to prevent long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 in the first place.

Finally, yesterday was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and I would like to pay tribute to all of the incredible women scientists who work for and with WHO all over the world – including those at this press conference – Janet, Kate, Maria, Mariângela, Soumya and Marion.

I want to say to all of you that you are an inspiration to me, and I hope you are an inspiration to many girls – and boys – around the world. And finally, I would like to wish everyone who observes it a very happy Lunar New Year.

Fadéla, back to you.

healthysoch