The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the increasing number of deaths related to COVID-19 in various countries. According to the WHO, over 170,000 people have died from the virus in the past eight weeks alone. During a media briefing on global health issues, the Director-General of the organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, announced that the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 would convene this week to evaluate whether the current situation still qualifies as a global emergency. As of January 23, 2023, there have been 664,097,132 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in 6,716,108 reported deaths.
Dr. Ghebreyesus highlighted that since early December, the number of weekly reported deaths from COVID-19 has been on the rise. He emphasized that the figure of over 170,000 deaths in the past eight weeks reflects only reported cases, indicating that the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. He noted that this week marks almost three years since the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, which is the WHO’s highest level of alert. While he refrained from preempting the Emergency Committee’s advice, he expressed deep concern regarding the situation in many countries and the escalating death toll.
Despite improvements since the pandemic’s onset three years ago, Dr. Ghebreyesus pointed out that the global collective response is once again under strain. He remarked that too few individuals, particularly older adults and healthcare workers, are adequately vaccinated. Additionally, fragile health systems are struggling to manage the burden of COVID-19 while also caring for patients with other illnesses, such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. He noted a significant decline in surveillance and genetic sequencing, which hampers the ability to track known variants and identify new ones.
Furthermore, Dr. Ghebreyesus warned of the proliferation of pseudoscience and misinformation that undermines public trust in safe and effective COVID-19 tools. He stressed that the virus continues to pose a threat, stating, “It has and will continue to surprise us and it will continue to kill unless we do more to get health tools to people that need them and to comprehensively tackle misinformation.”
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