Cooperation is only way to end the pandemic: WHO

A woman of the Miao ethnic minority receives the Zhifei Biological Products COVID-19 vaccine in Danzhai in China’s southwestern Guizhou province on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

Global cooperation, instead of competition and confrontation, is the only choice to end the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said while addressing the disparity in access to vaccines worldwide.

"The shocking global disparity in access to vaccines remains one of the biggest risks to ending the pandemic," Tedros said at a press briefing here on Monday.

According to the WHO's data, high- and upper-middle income countries, with 53 per cent of the world's population, have received 83 per cent of the world's vaccines, while low- and lower-middle income countries, with 47 per cent of the world's population, have received just 17 per cent of the jabs, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tedros expressed his belief that cooperation is the "only choice" to end this pandemic. "We cannot defeat this pandemic through competition, we can't. If you compete for resources, or if you compete for geopolitical advantages, then the virus gets advantage," the Director-General said, stressing a "very basic principle of identifying the virus as a common enemy".

Nepal takes oxygen cylinders from mountaineers

As Nepal is scrambling to provide enough oxygen for an increasing number of Covid-19 patients, the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has also taken the initiative to collect oxygen cylinders from mountaineers. According to the association, around 5,000 oxygen cylinders are being used by mountaineers for climbing the world's tallest Mt. Everest and other Himalayan peaks at the moment, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

UK to further lift curbs from May 17

United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the Coronavirus lockdown in England will be further lifted from May 17. Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street on Monday, Johnson announced that from May 17, pubs, bars and restaurants in England will be permitted to open indoors, Xinhua news agency reported.

Inbound Saudi travellers to undergo quarantine

Saudi Arabia will impose institutional quarantine on inbound travellers starting from May 20 onwards, the Ministry of Interior said. The Ministry said that the passengers are those coming from countries not included in the travel suspension, reports Xinhua news agency. The decision comes in line with the efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 and is based on recommendations by the health authorities, the Ministry said.

5,70,065
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

15,90,65,008
Total no. of cases worldwide

33,06,398
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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