(UTV | UNITED NATIONS) – COVID-19 cases continue to rise in a number of Asian countries including Sri Lanka, and hospitalisations are rising in others, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated.
At a WHO media briefing yesterday (14), Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said that while India’s situation is still hugely concerning, several countries are also reporting worrying numbers of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths and have emergency needs.
“Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam are just some of the countries that are dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalisations,” he said, adding that some countries in the Americas still have high case numbers and spikes are occurring in some African nations.
Tedros also said vaccine inequities are sadly playing out, with only 0.3% going to low-income countries. “Trickle down vaccination is not an effective strategy for fighting a deadly respiratory virus,” he said, pointing out that even as some countries are vaccinating children and adolescents, others do not have enough to immunise the health workers needed to staff hospitals.