Don’t let your guards down

Covax will distribute 14.4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to 31 more countries next week, the WHO said as it warned people not to waste, through complacency, the hope that vaccines bring. 

The WHO warning came as the death toll from the novel coronavirus hits 2,581,034 since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT yesterday.  At least 116,031,470 cases of coronavirus have been registered.

On Friday, 10,685 new deaths and 450,657 new cases were recorded worldwide.

The Covax global vaccine-sharing facility shipped more than 20 million doses to 20 countries as the scheme aimed at ensuring poorer nations get access to jabs took off this week.

But the World Health Organization voiced fears that further waves of the coronavirus pandemic could be on the way if people think the roll-out of vaccines around the globe means the crisis is over.

"The arrival of vaccine is a moment of great hope. But it potentially also is a moment where we lose concentration," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.

"I really am very concerned that... we think we're through this. We're not.

"And countries are going to lurch back into third and fourth surges if we're not careful.

"We should not waste the hope that vaccines bring... by dropping our guard in other areas."

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the first full week of the Covax roll-out, but said wealthy countries were nonetheless still leaving others behind in the vaccination rush.

"In the next week, Covax will deliver 14.4 million doses to a further 31 countries. That brings the total number of countries to 51," said Tedros.

"This is encouraging progress, but the volume of doses being distributed through Covax is still relatively small."

He called for vaccine production to be urgently ramped up, including through linking manufacturers with rival companies that have spare capacity.

Tedros also said the planet would be feeling the mental scars from the pandemic for years to come and said the scale of its impact would be worse than during the recovery from World War II.

In US, Democrats were on track yesterday for a final vote on President Joe Biden's massive Covid-19 relief package after agreeing to scale back unemployment benefits, with passage increasingly likely in the evenly divided Senate.

With the sun rising in Washington, bleary-eyed senators continued their all-night session voting on nearly two dozen amendments and counting as they hammered out the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which Biden insists will revive the pandemic-hit US economy. 

To pass the bill, the Democrats had to reach a compromise with moderate Senator Joe Manchin, who had balked at the scale of the benefits.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia yesterday said it will end most coronavirus-related restrictions today, including resuming indoor dining, reopening cinemas and resuming entertainment activities and events.

Some activities will remain banned, including weddings and corporate meetings. Social gatherings will continue to be limited to a maximum of 20 people, SPA said, citing an interior ministry source.