WHO Chief Tedros: Actual COVID-19 Death Toll “Certainly Higher” Than 1Mln

By Staff, Agencies

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus while speaking at a high-level UN General Assembly meeting on Wednesday said that the actual number of deaths due to COVID-19 was "certainly higher" than one million. The global COVID-19 death toll shot past the grim one million mark earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for greater cooperation among nations and has urged them to share information regarding tests and treatments.

As per reports, Guterres said, "It is in every country's national and economic self-interest to work together to massively expand access to tests and treatments and to support a vaccine as a global public good, a people's vaccine available and affordable for everyone everywhere."

"The Access to COVID-19 Tools [ACT] Accelerator with its COVAX facility is the vehicle to get us there,” the WHO chief said. He also mentioned that the current ACT Accelerator gap stands at $35 billion which is less than 1 percent spent by G20 countries in terms of their domestic stimulus packages and added that financing the ACT Accelerator could “help to control the pandemic, restore confidence and stimulate the global recovery.”

The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, has infected over 33 million people worldwide with the global death toll crossing 1,000,000. The US has reported more than 7.2 million positive COVID-19 cases and a death toll of over 200,000.

Meanwhile, Latin American leaders appealed to the international community at the UNGA summit to allow them free access to the COVID-19 vaccine. At the UN meeting, the leaders urged major powers to share their research and other relevant information with Latin American nations for the sake of global health and well-being.

As per reports, Latin American countries suffered greatly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Latin America has almost nine million cases in total. On top of that, the lockdown restrictions as well as the impact on trade, the economies of Latin American countries have also been negatively impacted.