WHO warns of Covid medical waste threat
Discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles from the Covid-19 pandemic have piled up to create tens of thousands of tonnes of medical waste, threatening human health and the environment, a World Health Organization report said yesterday. It estimates that some 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been ordered via a UN portal up until Nov 2021 - most of which is thought to have ended up as waste. The report also mentions some 140 million test kits with a potential to generate 2,600 tonnes of plastic trash and chemical waste. In addition, it estimates that some 8 billion vaccine doses administered globally have produced an additional 144,000 tonnes of waste.
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