WHO: 170,000 COVID-19 death cases were recorded

Baghdad-INA 

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed today, Friday, that 170,000 deaths from corona had been recorded during the past eight weeks, most of them in China.

"The online meeting of the International Health Regulations Coronavirus Emergency Committee initially focused on the latest data on the pandemic, and then was followed by talks," a spokeswoman for the organization said.
The talks are expected to end on Friday evening, at the earliest.

At the beginning of the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that "in the past eight weeks, more than 170,000 deaths have been reported.".

"The actual number is definitely much higher," Ghebreyesus said, adding that the situation in China is getting worse.

"The lifting of restrictions in China has led to a sharp rise in deaths in the world's most populous country. Last week, Nearly 40,000 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization, more than half of them from China.

The committee is due to inform Ghebreyesus of the results of the talks, leaving him to decide independently for or against lifting the current state of emergency.

Already earlier this week, Ghebreyesus expressed concern about the continuing increase in deaths related to Covid-19. At the same time, the World Health Organization noted several effective tools against the virus, among them vaccines, medicines, face masks and social distancing.

It is noteworthy that declaring a state of emergency is the highest level of alert that the World Health Organization can declare. It does so in the event of threats so that governments and people are alerted to take the necessary preparations.

The declaration or lifting of a state of emergency, which is officially a public health emergency of international concern, does not have any immediate consequences, as each country decides for itself to manage its crisis.