COVID: WHO urges rich nations to pay for pandemic plan

International

-DW News

The
World
Health
Organization
on
Wednesday
asked
wealthy
countries
to
pay
their
fair
share
of
money
to
fight
COVID-19.

Tedros
Adhanom
Ghebreyesus,
director
of
the
WHO,
said
if
countries
paid
their
due
share,
they
can
“support
low-
and
middle-income
countries
to
overcome
low
vaccination
levels,
weak
testing,
and
medicine
shortages.”

“Science
gave
us
the
tools
to
fight
COVID-19;
if
they
are
shared
globally
in
solidarity,
we
can
end
COVID-19
as
a
global
health
emergency
this
year,”
he
said.

The
WHO,
along
with
other
partners,
established
an
Access
to
COVID-19
Tools
(ACT)
Accelerator,
to
pool
resources
to
fight
the
global
pandemic
in
2020.

ACT-Accelerator
budgeted
$23.4
billion
(€20
billion)
for
its
efforts
from
October
2021
to
September
2022.
However,
only
$814
million
has
been
raised
so
far,
leaders
of
the
initiative
told
reporters.

The
WHO
hoped
rich
countries
would
contribute
to
the
fund
in
the
form
of
grants.
But
given
the
urgency
of
the
current
situation
and
the
possibility
of
other
variants,
its
asked
them
to
pay
around
$16
billion
to
“close
the
immediate
financing
gap.”
The
rest
would
be
funded
by
middle-income
countries
themselves.

The
ACT-Accelerator
hub
also
encompasses
the
COVAX
initiative
which
aims
at
equitable
distribution
of
vaccines,
especially
to
lower-
and
middle-income
countries.
COVAX
delivered
its
1
billionth
dose
in
a
shipment
to
Rwanda
in
the
middle
of
January.

Just
0.4%
of
the
4.7
billion
COVID
tests
administered
globally
during
the
pandemic
have
been
used
in
low-income
countries.
Only
10%
of
people
in
those
nations
have
received
at
least
one
vaccine
dose.

The
WHO
has
set
a
goal
of
vaccinating
70%
of
the
world’s
population
by
the
middle
of
the
year.

Here
are
the
latest
major
developments
on
coronavirus
from
around
the
world:

Asia

Hong
Kong‘s
hospital
authority
on
Wednesday
said
an
older
man,
whose
preliminary
test
results
detected
COVID-19,
died
on
Tuesday.
This
may
be
the
city’s
first
death
potentially
linked
with
the
virus
in
five
months,
though
authorities
will
conduct
further
tests,
as
goes
the
rule
with
preliminary
results,
to
affirm
the
cause
of
his
death.
He
was
73
years
old
and
was
chronically
ill.

Hong
Kong
has
recorded
more
than
2,600
cases
over
the
past
two
weeks
compared
with
just
two
cases
in
December.

Europe

Sweden
on
Wednesday
became
the
latest
European
nation
to
lift
most
pandemic
restrictions.
Limitations
on
the
number
of
people
who
could
gather
in
restaurants,
pubs,
and
other
venues
have
been
done
away
with,
and
people
can
go
to
work.
Additionally,
it
lifted
a
travel
ban,
allowing
people
from
other
Nordic
countries
to
visit
it.

“Looking
ahead,
infection
rates
will
remain
high
for
a
while
longer,
but
as
far
as
we
can
judge,
the
worst
consequences
of
the
contagion
are
now
behind
us,”
Swedish
Prime
Minister
Magdalena
Andersson
told
a
news
conference
last
week.

The
Czech
Republic
moved
closer
to
scrapping
some
of
its
own
tighter
COVID
rules
on
Wedneday,
doing
away
with
a
requirement
for
people
to
submit
vaccination
certifications
at
restaurants,
cultural
and
sports
events.
However,
Czechs
are
going
to
have
to
keep
wearing
their
masks
indoors
and
the
number
of
people
allowed
to
gather
at
big
events
would
still
be
limited.

Germany‘s
infection
rate
continues
to
rise,
with
234,250
new
cases
and
272
deaths
Wednesday,
according
to
data
from
the
Robert
Koch
Institute.
Gerald
Gass,
the
president
of
the
German
Hospital
Association
(DKG),
told

Bild
newspaper
that
German
health
systems
will
be
able
to
handle
the
situation
in
coming
weeks
because
COVID
rules
and
restrictions
played
a
major
role
in
bringing
the
looming
crisis
under
control.
He
urged
that
the
rules
be
followed
until
omicron
cases
hit
a
peak,
which
the
federal
government
expects
to
be
around
one
or
two
weeks
from
this
week.

Germany’s
total
number
of
cases
stands
at
11,521,678
and
total
deaths
at
119,215.

Americas

Truckers
paralyzing
the

Canadian
capital
in
protest
against
COVID
rules
showed
no
signs
of
backing
down
Tuesday,
as
several
of
the
nation’s
provinces
either
announced
or
signaled
plans
to
ease
measures.
In
Ottawa,
Prime
Minister
Justin
Trudeau,
who
a
day
earlier
issued
a
stern
warning
saying
protests
“had
to
stop”
appeared
to
shift
tone
as
well.
He
said
he
understood
how
“frustrated
everyone
is”
and
“that
time
is
coming
when
we
will
be
able
to
relax.”

Several
Democratic-run
US
states,
like

California
and

Delaware,
announced
plans
to
lift
mask
mandates
in
indoor
places
and
schools,
as
COVID
cases
slow
in
America.
New
York,
the
early
epicenter
of
America’s
outbreak
in
2020,
is
expected
to
lift
the
city’s
indoor
mask
madate
on
Wednesday
too,
the
New
York
Times
reported.

Source: DW