GENEVA – The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a grim warning yesterday that the second year of Covid-19 is set to be “far more deadly” as Japan extends a state of emergency amid growing calls for the Olympics to be scrapped.
“We’re on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The mood also darkened in Japan, where the coronavirus emergency is imposed on another three regions just 10 weeks before the Olympics, while campaigners submitted a petition with more than 350,000 signatures calling for the Games to be cancelled.
With Tokyo and other areas already under emergency orders until the end of May, Hiroshima, Okayama and northern Hokkaido, which will host the Olympic marathon, will now join them.
Japanese public opinion is firmly opposed to holding the Games this summer.
The pandemic has killed at least 3,346,813 people worldwide since the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, according to an AFP tally of official data.
Sputnik V vaccines reach India
India, meanwhile, has started deploying Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the first foreign-made shot to be used in the country that has been reeling from an explosion in cases and deaths.
The first token batch of the vaccines – reportedly 150,000 doses – arrived on May 1, and a second delivery is expected in the next few days.
A number of leading India-based pharmaceuticals have agreements for the local production of Sputnik V, with the aim to produce over 850 million doses per year.
India has been adding roughly as many new Covid-19 cases daily as the rest of the world put together.
More than 260,000 Indians have died of the disease, according to official figures.
In Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the arrival of the B1.617.2 variant, one of those believed to be driving the Indian surge, could delay the reopening of society and the economy.
“This new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress,” he said, adding: “We will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”
Britain’s Health Ministry has tracked the variant in northwest England and London.
Germany has added the United Kingdom back onto its list of “risk areas” requiring extra checks – but not necessarily quarantine – for incoming travellers.
Elsewhere in the continent, tourist hotspots are opening up.
Greece kick-started its tourism season yesterday, hoping to reverse last year’s miserable summer.
France and Spain launched tourism campaigns this week, too, while Italy yesterday said it is scrapping a quarantine requirement for visitors from the European Union, Britain and Israel who test negative for Covid-19.
And in the United States, the top health agency on Thursday said it is easing mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people.
WHO also said yesterday that even the vaccinated should keep wearing masks in areas where the virus is spreading.
“Vaccination alone is not a guarantee against infection, or against being able to transmit that infection to others,” said its chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan.
The health body urged wealthy countries to stop vaccinating children, and instead, donate doses to poorer nations.
“I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now, I urge them to reconsider, and to instead donate vaccines to Covax,” said Tedros. – AFP, May 15, 2021
