Your Excellency, Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health of Singapore,
Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, and a very Happy New Year to all Member States. Thank you for joining us once again.
Globally, more than three hundred million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and over 5.4 million deaths.
Omicron has spread throughout the world at blistering speed. In the past week, more than 15 million new cases were reported to WHO, by far the most cases reported in a single week. This figure, by the way, is three times the figure we recorded three weeks ago, from about 5 million in one week, to 15 million two weeks later.
The South East Asian Region, the Western Pacific, and the Eastern Mediterranean reported the largest percentage increase in new cases, while the Region of the Americas and the European Region continue to account for the majority of cases globally.
This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries.
However, the number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October last year, at an average of 48 thousand deaths a week.
While the number of patients being hospitalized is increasing in most countries, it is not at the level seen in previous waves.
This is possibly due to the reduced severity of Omicron, as well as widespread immunity from vaccination or previous infection.
But let’s be clear: while Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated.
More than 9.4 billion vaccine doses have now been administered globally. Vaccine equity remains a major challenge. 90 Member States have vaccinated less than 40% of their populations, and 36 Member States do not even have 10% coverage.
In Africa, more than 85% of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine.
We cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap.
We are making progress. In December, COVAX shipped more than double the number of doses it shipped in November, and in the coming days, we expect COVAX to ship its 1 billionth vaccine dose.
Some of the supply constraints we faced last year are now starting to ease, but we still have a long way to go to reach our target of vaccinating 70% of the population of every country by the middle of this year. Everyone has a role in making this a reality.
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Today, we have a special presentation on Urban Health Emergency Preparedness.
I would like to give a special thank you to His Excellency Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health of Singapore, for his strong support for the urban preparedness agenda, and specifically for the WHO Framework for Strengthening Emergency Preparedness in Cities and Urban Settings.
Urban areas are on the frontlines of pandemics and other complex health emergencies. They are home to more than 50% of the world’s population, and that is increasing every day.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, the very things that make cities unique – their population density, mass transit, hubs for domestic and international transport, and socio-economic diversity – also make them particularly vulnerable to health emergencies.
The new WHO framework will support countries as they respond to this challenge, in areas including capacity building, sustainable investments, political commitment, and an increased consideration of cities in national preparedness planning.
We call upon national and city authorities to work together, and across sectors, to sustainably invest in and bolster preparedness and response capacities in cities and urban settings.
We encourage Member States to participate in the Global Preparedness Cities Platform and other networks addressing these issues, to share knowledge and exchange best practices.
As always, we look forward to your questions, comments, and guidance.
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Today I am also joined by a special guest. Dr Ayoade Alakija, who I appointed last month as WHO Special Envoy for the ACT Accelerator.
Dr Alakija will help lead collective advocacy for the ACT Accelerator, mobilizing support and resources so it can deliver against its new Strategic Plan and Budget.
Dr Alakija will also support the leaders of the ACT Accelerator’s three product pillars and cross cutting ‘connector’. And she will as co-chair with former Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who is co-chairing our ACT Accelerator. I am very pleased to have her here today.
Ayoade, my sister, over to you to make a few remarks.
[Dr Alakija makes a few remarks]
Thank you, Ayoade, and thank you so much for your commitment to leading this very important initiative, and I look forward to working with you very closely, and on behalf of all the ACT Accelerator principals, I really thank you for agreeing to join us.