As cases of COVID-19 surpassed 120,000 around the world, the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared a pandemic – a move the organization stressed was intended to “trigger” even more aggressive action from governments against the virus rather than surrender to its rapid spread. In line with current trends, numbers of COVID-19 cases, deaths and […] Continue reading ->
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Mastercard on Tuesday announced a US $125 million commitment of seed funding to a new COVID-19 Treatment Accelerator – whose aim as its name implies, will be to speed up the development of urgently needed drugs to treat people infected with COVID-19. Just hours later, the […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organization’s director general Roberto Azevêdo announced on Tuesday that he was suspending all WTO meetings at its Geneva offices, following the confirmation of a COVID-19 case among staff. It was the first publicly-announced case of the novel coronavirus infection at a Geneva-based United Nations or UN-affiliated organization since the epidemic began, which […] Continue reading ->
As the governments around the world struggle to control surging COVID-19 outbreaks, health experts highlighted cracks in global health systems that created conditions ripe for the pandemic. A report titled Power, Privilege & Priorities released Monday by Global Health 50/50 found that an inequality of health benefits and an inequality of opportunities inside organizations have […] Continue reading ->
“The world is inching towards a pandemic,” admitted WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a WHO media briefing Monday, which saw COVID-19 cases more than double over the weekend in France, Germany and Spain, as well as the USA. In an unprecedented move, Italy’s Prime Minister put the entire country under emergency lockdown […] Continue reading ->
As the world surpassed 100,000 COVID-19 infections, the United Nations announced on Friday that a critical round of climate negotiations among member states in Bonn, Germany will be postponed, while some of the sessions scheduled from 6 March to the end of April would be put on a virtual footing. Africa Climate Week, a parallel […] Continue reading ->
‘We Need To Fight …Now’ – WHO Director General Urges Countries To ‘Face The Fire’ On COVID-19 Threat
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to redouble their efforts on COVID-19 containment, saying that China’s stunning success shows that goal still may be attainable – even as 16,470 new cases of the fatal virus mushroomed elsewhere across the globe in the past 24 hours. “This not a drill. This is not […] Continue reading ->
As the COVID-19 continued its march across the planet, shortages of some key drug ingredients were beginning to be felt in some markets, and iconic events such as the World Bank’s annual spring meeting were to be moved to a virtual platform. In Geneva, parallel sessions and side events involving the ongoing annual meetings of […] Continue reading ->
The World Bank on Tuesday announced the immediate release of US$12 billion to support countries struggling to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. That followed news that the global death rate from the novel coronavirus was now averaging around 3.4% as compared to around 2% of cases previously reported by WHO. In comparison, estimated fatality rates […] Continue reading ->
As Iran faces one of the most serious surges in COVID-19 cases around the world, WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed US President Donald Trump’s olive branch toward its bitter enemy, who on Monday told the Conservative Political Action Congress “if we can help the Iranians with this problem we are certainly willing […] Continue reading ->