News in Brief 13 January 2023
- Greece urged to halt trial against human rights defenders who helped migrants
- WHO updates COVID isolation guidance
- Indonesia: President’s apology for past rights violations welcomed: OHCHR
The Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has called on drug manufacturer Pfizer to do more to ensure that its new COVID-19 oral antiviral medication is available quickly, to provide effective treatment to countries that may struggle to afford it.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some 110 countries, driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, said the UN health agency chief on Wednesday, amounting to a 20 per cent spike overall, and a rise in the number of deaths across three of the six world regions monitored by the World Health Organization.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee has been convened due to the spread of the Monkeypox virus to 32 non-endemic countries.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told health ministers on Sunday that although reported COVID-19 cases and deaths have declined significantly, it is not time yet for any country to lower its guard.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday expressed concern over the current COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), where no public vaccination programme has been put in place, reiterating its commitment to support the country response to the pandemic.
As the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, we cannot afford to ‘lose sight’ of the changes, the UN health agency said on Wednesday, warning that lower case numbers and deaths do not necessarily mean ‘lower risk’.
Governments and pharmaceutical companies need to work together in a better way, to deliver vaccines “to every person, everywhere” – not simply in the wealthiest nations, said the UN chief on Friday.
A third of the world’s population has yet to receive a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, including a shocking 83 per cent of all Africans, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.