Category Archives: World Health Organization

Burundi expels WHO coronavirus team as election approaches

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Official says health minister has accused UN agency of ‘unacceptable interference’

Burundi has ordered the expulsion of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert team backing the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, just days before the country’s elections.

The foreign ministry, in a letter to WHO Africa headquarters and seen by AFP on Wednesday, said the UN agency’s representative in Burundi and his three colleagues “are declared persona non grata and as such, must leave the territory of Burundi” by Friday.

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Global report: WHO says Covid-19 ‘may never go away’ and warns of mental health crisis

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Trump brands Fauci’s caution over reopening ‘unacceptable’; Russia has second highest infections; Japan eyes lifting national emergency

The World Health Organisation has warned that coronavirus “may never go away” as its experts predicted that a global mental health crisis caused by the pandemic was looming.

The global health body on Wednesday cautioned against trying to predict how long coronavirus would keep circulating, and called for a “massive effort” to overcome it.

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Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns

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Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case

The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.

The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.

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‘There is a path out’: WHO’s Dr Michael Ryan warns nations to stay vigilant – video

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Dr Michael Ryan, the director of the WHO health emergencies programme, has said there is a way out of the Covid-19 pandemic for communities, adding that 'a careful and measured return' to workplaces and schools with the right precautions could work, but that concerts and other mass gatherings were much more difficult.

He predicted a significant change to lifestyles until a vaccine or effective treatments were found.

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Coronavirus could ‘smoulder’ in Africa for several years, WHO warns

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190,000 people could die on the continent in the coming 12 months, agency says

The Covid-19 pandemic could “smoulder” in Africa for several years after killing as many as 190,000 people in the coming 12 months, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO warned last month that there could be 10m infections on the continent within six months, though experts said the pandemic’s impact would depend on governments’ actions.

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Global report: Russia becomes Europe’s coronavirus hotspot

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France confirms lockdown-easing from Monday as WHO warns on domestic violence

Another record rise in coronavirus infections has propelled Russia past Germany and France to the fifth highest tally in the world, as the French government confirmed the country would start gradually lifting its strict eight-week lockdown from Monday.

With much of Europe now easing itself out of confinement, Russia has become the continent’s new Covid-19 hotspot. More than half of the country’s 177,160 cases are in Moscow and the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said research suggested the actual number was nearer 300,000, more than triple the official figure.

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Coronavirus ‘reinfections’ were false positives, says WHO technical lead – video

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Test results suggesting people in South Korea had been reinfected after recovering from Covid-19 were actually false positives caused by dead lung cells, the World Health Organization's technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, has told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show

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Donald Trump accuses WHO of ‘misleading’ US over coronavirus – video

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Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organization of being a 'pipe organ for China' and misleading the US over the coronavirus crisis. The US president suggested the US could take action against the WHO. 'We're coming up with a very distinct recommendation,' Trump said. 'We're not happy with it.' 

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Polio campaign in Africa put on hold during coronavirus

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WHO official warns of fresh outbreaks as jabs for 12 million children are delayed

Vaccinations for up to 12 million children to prevent the spread of polio in Africa will be delayed, in a major redeployment of polio eradication resources to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Polio prevention campaigns, which are vital to avert outbreaks, will be suspended until at least the second half of 2020, said Dr Pascal Mkanda, the head of polio for World Health Organization Africa. The decision will inevitably lead to a rise in polio cases.

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Deaths in Nigerian city raise concerns over undetected Covid-19 outbreaks

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Doctors in Kano state report surge in fatal cases of pneumonia among elderly

Nigeria’s president has announced an immediate two-week lockdown in Kano, the largest city in the north, after local reports of a big rise in deaths in recent days.

The federal government would deploy “all the necessary human, material and technical resources” to support Kano state, Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday night.

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World leaders agree to cooperate on coronavirus vaccine, but US does not take part – video

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Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a Covid-19 vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines around the globe as part of a World Health Organization initiative.

The US did not take part in the pledge, made at a virtual meeting, designed to show that wealthy countries will not keep the results of research from developing countries.

Britain will co-chair a joint coronavirus global response summit on 4 May aimed at raising funds for vaccine research, treatments and tests.

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Pandemic could ‘turn back the clock’ 20 years on malaria deaths, warns WHO

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Deaths in sub-Saharan African countries could double to more than 700,000 this year if Covid-19 crisis disrupts programmes

Deaths from malaria could double across sub-Saharan Africa this year if work to prevent the disease is disrupted by Covid-19, the World Health Organization has warned.

The UN’s global health agency said that if countries failed to maintain delivery of insecticide-treated nets and access to antimalarial medicines, up to 769,000 people could die of malaria this year. That figure, which would be more than double the number of deaths in 2018, would mark a return to mortality levels last seen 20 years ago.

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Coronavirus: The world has a long way to go, warns WHO chief – video

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The chief of the World Health Organization has warned that complacency is the 'greatest danger' facing countries in the fight against coronavirus. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the virus 'remains extremely dangerous' and many of the world's population were still susceptible to the disease. 'Make no mistake, we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time,' the WHO chief said.

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Failure to protect: who is to blame for Britain’s coronavirus crisis?

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A number of prominent people are being criticised for their shortcomings over Covid-19

The UK’s Covid-19 crisis has reached the blame phase, with Boris Johnson, ministers, civil servants and scientists coming under criticism that they underestimated the threat, were slow to act and are bungling the country’s response amid a wave of deaths.

So who is in the line of fire – and why?

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Covid-19: is seven days in isolation enough? – podcast

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How long should you remain in isolation if you have symptoms of Covid-19? It depends on who you ask. The UK government guidelines recommend seven days from the onset of symptoms, whereas the World Health Organization advises 14. To get to the bottom of this apparent disparity, Nicola Davis discusses viral shedding with Dr Charlotte Houldcroft, and asks what the evidence currently tells us about how long we stay infectious for

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Under attack: WHO and the coronavirus pandemic – podcast

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The World Health Organization has been at the forefront of the global response to new diseases and with differing outcomes. It was hailed for the way it dealt with Sars but pilloried for its handling of Ebola. Now, with its biggest challenge yet, it is in the crosshairs again as Donald Trump threatens to withdraw funding

When Donald Trump announced he was suspending funding to the World Health Organization it immediately put the future of the UN body in jeopardy. The US president accused the WHO of being too close to China and covering up the spread of Covid-19. But as the journalist Stephen Buranyi tells Anushka Asthana, the facts do not tally with the Trump’s version of events. In January, the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared an emergency and has since been urgently telling 194 of its members to “test, test, test” as the only route out of the crisis.

As a body with no formal powers to sanction its members, it relies on the effectiveness of its leader. In the past that has led to mixed results: exemplary in the fight against Sars, heavily criticised for its Ebola response. But as the WHO faces its biggest crisis yet, its future is now as uncertain as ever.

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WHO warns that few have developed antibodies to Covid-19

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Herd immunity hopes dealt blow by report suggesting only 2%-3% of people have been infected

Only a tiny proportion of the global population – maybe as few as 2% or 3% – appear to have antibodies in the blood showing they have been infected with Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization, a finding that bodes ill for hopes that herd immunity will ease the exit from lockdown.

“Easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country,” said WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a media briefing in Geneva on Monday. “So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic.”

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US scuppers G20 coronavirus statement on strengthening WHO

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Exclusive: objections leave health ministers unable to agree joint communique on cooperation

US hostility to the World Health Organization scuppered the publication of a communique by G20 health ministers on Sunday that committed to strengthening the WHO’s mandate in coordinating a response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

In place of a lengthy statement with paragraphs of detail, the leaders instead issued a brief statement saying that gaps existed in the way the world handled pandemics.

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UN agencies issue urgent coronavirus appeal after $2bn request falls well short

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Exclusive: aid officials seek $350m for transport system to get support to poorest regions

The heads of all the UN’s major agencies have issued a graphic warning of the risk of coronavirus to the world’s most vulnerable countries after disclosing that international donors had pledged around a quarter of the $2bn the UN requested for its emergency Covid-19 response in March.

In an open letter shared before publication with the Guardian, the world’s most senior emergencies, health and development officials, warned that help for the world’s weakest countries was in everyone’s “interest to stop the virus from spreading unchecked, destroying lives and economies, and continuing to circle around the world”.

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‘Together at home’: Lady Gaga, Rolling Stones and Lizzo headline tribute to key workers – video

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Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Lizzo and Elton John headlined a special broadcast on Saturday celebrating frontline workers around the world fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The two-hour 'One World: Together at Home' event, broadcast across multiple television channels in the US and overseas, featured a who's who of pop culture in the biggest celebrity gathering of the crisis

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