“Global Health”: the virus is accelerating in the Arab countries that have controlled it

Yesterday the World Health Organization announced that the number of cases of the “Covid-19” epidemic in the Eastern Mediterranean region has exceeded two million, warning that some countries that have managed to control the epidemic are accelerating in the spread of the infection.

Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in a statement: “Our region has reached another milestone this week, as the number of cases (Covid-19) has exceeded two million. “, as quoted by the French news agency.

The organization called on the 22 countries of the region to “continue to implement known and proven prevention measures”. Especially with the beginning of the school year and the approaching winter and flu season. Al-Mandhari said that “there are many countries that managed to control the transmission of the disease a few months ago, including Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon. But now we are witnessing an acceleration of the pace of onset of cases ». He added that “other countries are seeing growing trends, such as Libya, the occupied Palestinian territories, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates”.

So far, the new Corona virus has killed around 900,000 people worldwide since its appearance in China in December, according to WHO statistics.

In this context, the Tunisian Ministry of Health yesterday counted a record number of 465 new cases of the new Corona virus in 24 hours, an unprecedented number in the country since last March.

Tunisia has seen rapid increases in the virus for weeks, bringing a total of 4,681 infections and 49 deaths since June 27, the date of the reopening of the borders to international flights, after a period of closure that lasted more than three months.

For its part, the UAE government has announced the registration of 930 new infections with the emerging “Corona” virus, which is the highest daily number recorded for four months. On the other hand, Jordan confirmed yesterday that it had registered its first three Coronavirus cases, in the largest Syrian refugee camp, just days after two cases were discovered in a smaller refugee camp, according to Reuters.

Al-Mamlaka TV quoted Mafraq governor Yasser Al-Adwan as saying that the cases in Zaatari camp include Jordanians working there and a Syrian refugee. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement that the injured refugee was sent to an area of ​​isolation and that contact tracing is now underway. The camp is home to around 77,000 Syrian refugees.

UNHCR also confirmed on Tuesday that Jordanian authorities have registered the first two Coronavirus cases in the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the pandemic in the Kingdom.

There are numerous Syrians infected with the disease outside the camps, out of about 2,739 cases so far in Jordan, since the first case was registered on 2 March. Most of the 665,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations in Jordan live in urban areas, as reported by Reuters.

In a related development, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization said yesterday that the decision by company “AstraZeneca” to stop testing its vaccine against the “Corona” virus after one of the participants fell ill was “a alarm bell”; But it shouldn’t discourage researchers.

Somaya Swaminathan said, in a hypothetical media briefing, from Geneva: “This is a call to alert to realize that there are fluctuations in clinical development, and we must be prepared.” “This shouldn’t discourage us,” he added. These things happen. “

For his part, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has asked to raise an additional $ 35 billion, including $ 15 billion over the next three months, to fund a World Health Organization program that supports the availability of vaccines to prevent the “Covid-19” around the world.

Total contributions to that program so far have reached $ 3 billion, which Guterres described in an online meeting yesterday as “small initial funding” for what the World Health Organization is targeting, and represents less than ten percent of what it needs for the program called “ACT” in reference For the acronym of the rapid provision of tools to prevent “Covid-19”.

“We now need an additional $ 35 billion to move the program from starting point to expanding its scope and impact … There is a real and urgent need for those sums,” Guterres told a meeting. of the board formed to promote the program. Without pumping 15 billion over the next three months, from now on we will miss the current opportunity. “