GLOBAL PANDEMIC

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Important Announcement

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WHO UPDATE: JULY 30, 2021  

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Press Briefing by White House COVID-19

Response Team and Public Health Officials

Must See Video - July 22, 2021 

Video Courtesy,  The White House

We need to regain control over COVID-19!

WHO:  Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, Epidemiologist

Must See Video - 7 July 2021

Must See Video

On 2 June 2021, the Government of Japan hosted the virtual Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The event aimed to accelerate access to 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for lower-income economies via the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment.

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Important Announcement

April 26, 2021

"Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need."

Quote Courtesy, U.S. President Joe Biden 

Important Announcement

United States will remain a member of WHO

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci - January 21, 2021

Courtesy, United Nations

Global Vaccination Plan

17 February 2021

Addressing virtual meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the goal of providing vaccines to all as

“the biggest moral test before the global community,”

underlining that

everyone, everywhere must be included.  

Video Courtesy - United Nations

"Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Earlier this week, I had the honour of traveling to Bahrain and Kuwait, where WHO has opened our two newest country offices. I also had the opportunity to visit several facilities that have been set up to respond to COVID-19, and was very impressed by the innovative and comprehensive approach.

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We now have 152 country offices around the world. They are central to what WHO does – supporting countries to strengthen health systems and improve the health of their populations. Before that, I was honoured to be invited to Tokyo to address the International Olympic Committee.

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I went to answer a question I am often asked: when will the pandemic end? My answer was that the pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it. It’s in our hands. ​We have all the tools we need: we can prevent this disease, we can test for it, and we can treat it.

 

And yet since our last press conference, cases and deaths from COVID-19 have continued to climb. Almost 4 million cases were reported to WHO last week, and on current trends, we expect the total number of cases to pass 200 million within the next two weeks. And we know that is an underestimate.

 

On average, in five of WHO’s six regions, infections have increased by 80%, or nearly doubled, over the past four weeks. In Africa, deaths have increased by 80% over the same period.

Much of this increase is being driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant, which has now been detected in at least 132 countries.

 

WHO has warned that the COVID-19 virus has been changing since it was first reported, and it continues to change. So far, four variants of concern have emerged, and there will be more as long as the virus continues to spread. The rise is also driven by increased social mixing and mobility, the inconsistent use of public health and social measures, and inequitable vaccine use. 

 

Hard-won gains are in jeopardy or being lost, and health systems in many countries are being overwhelmed. The increased number of infections is creating a shortage of treatments such as life-saving oxygen. Twenty-nine countries have high and rising oxygen needs, and many countries have inadequate supplies of basic equipment to protect frontline health workers.

 

Meanwhile, testing rates in low-income countries are less than 2 percent of what they are in high-income countries – leaving the world blind to understanding where the disease is and how it’s changing.  Without better testing rates globally, we cannot fight the disease on the frontline or mitigate the risk of new, more dangerous variants emerging.

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WHO is supporting countries with supplies of oxygen, with guidance to help countries better detect variants, and we continue to work daily with our global networks of experts to understand why the Delta variant spreads so readily.

 

But we need more:

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We need stronger surveillance;

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We need more strategic testing to improve the global understanding of where the virus is, where public health interventions are most needed, and to isolate cases and reduce transmission;

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We need patients to receive early clinical care by trained and protected health workers, with more oxygen to treat the seriously ill and save lives;

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We need well-trained and well-protected health workers and the systems to deliver the services and the tools to save lives;

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We need more research and development to ensure that tests, treatments, vaccines and other tools remain effective against the Delta variant and other emerging variants;

And of course, we need more vaccines.

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Last month, we announced that we were setting up a technology transfer hub for mRNA vaccines in South Africa, as part of our efforts to scale up production of vaccines. Today we have taken another step forward, with a letter of intent that sets out the terms of collaboration signed by the partners in the hub: WHO; the Medicines Patent Pool; Afrigen Biologics; the Biologicals and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa; the South African Medical Research Council and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

WHO’s goal remains to support every country to vaccinate at least 10% of its population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year.

We are a long way off achieving those targets.

 

So far, just over half of countries have fully vaccinated 10% of their population, less than a quarter of countries have vaccinated 40%, and only 3 countries have vaccinated 70%.

 

Almost a year ago, WHO began to express concern about the threat of ‘vaccine nationalism’; In a press conference in November, we warned of the risk that the world’s poor would be “trampled in the stampede for vaccines”; 

 

And at WHO’s Executive Board meeting in January this year, we said the world was on the verge of a “catastrophic moral failure”. And yet the global distribution of vaccines remains unjust.

 

All regions are at risk, but none more so than Africa. On current trends, nearly 70% of African countries will not reach the 10% vaccination target by the end of September. Around 3.5 million to 4 million doses are administered weekly on the continent, but to meet the September target this must rise to 21 million doses at the very least each week.

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Many African countries have prepared well to roll out vaccines, but the vaccines have not arrived. Less than 2% of all doses administered globally have been in Africa. Just 1.5% of the continent’s population are fully vaccinated. This is a very serious problem if we’re going to take action against this pandemic and end it.

 

In response to the Delta surge, today the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator is launching the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response, or RADAR, issuing an urgent call for 7.7 billion U.S. dollars for tests, treatments and vaccines.

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In parallel, we will need additional financing this year for COVAX to exercise its options to purchase vaccines for 2022.

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This investment is a tiny portion of the amount governments are spending to deal with COVID-19.

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The question is not whether the world can afford to make these investments; it’s whether it can afford not to . . . "

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Looking back as the world moves

forward with the . . .

Global COVID-19 Pandemic!

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WHO declares the new coronavirus

outbreak a Public Health Emergency

of International Concern

January 30, 2020

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Courtesy, UN - WHO

Learn more / get latest UPDATES & INFO

on the following web page:

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Opening remarks of the Secretary-General's appeal for global ceasefire - 23 March 2020

. . . This is crucial . . . 

To help create corridors for life-saving aid. To open precious windows for diplomacy.  To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.  

 

Let us take inspiration from coalitions and dialogue slowly taking shape among rival parties in some parts to enable joint approaches to COVID-19.  But we need much more. 

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End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. 

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It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now. 

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That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.  

Important Reminder on . . .

Human Rights and COVID-19

Response and Recovery

23 April 2020

Learn more at:

Let's All Support Global Health Workers

During this Global Health Emergency!

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2021: Year of Health and Care Workers 

Learn more on the following web page:

2020: The Voices of Global Leaders

reminded the world that

COVID-19

is . . .

 "A Global Crisis"

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HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II:  NO TIME FOR GEOPOLITICAL TURF BATTLES

HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II OF THE HASH

Courtesy, The Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Washington, D.C.

31 March  2020

The following text excerpt is  an Op-ed by His Majesty King Abdullah II, and presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Halimah Yacob of Singapore, Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia and Lenín Moreno Garcés of Ecuador

"No time for geopolitical turf battles.  We need a global alliance to fight the pandemic . . . Our nations, societies and economies are slowing down, almost grinding to a halt in the face of a global, external threat that transcends borders, ethnicities, and creeds. Public life has come to a virtual standstill. But these unprecedented measures of social distancing will be hard to sustain over a long period of time. 

 

Nations are turning inward as they try to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, closing borders and imposing drastic executive measures in a retreat that risks leaving every country fending for itself. However, we can contain and counter COVID-19 more effectively by knocking down the barriers that hinder knowledge exchange and co-operation. 

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Crises like these tend to bring out both the best and the worst in people. It is our responsibility as leaders to encourage the former and contain the latter. Our countries are at varying stages of the crisis but we all see and admire the strong spirit of solidarity and the many people who are passionately trying to save lives or keep indispensable services up and running. They give us hope and offer inspiration that our societies may not only weather this crisis but also grow stronger and more connected."

Read entire Op-ed on the following web page:

Queen Elizabeth II Addresses the U.K. in

the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

April 5, 2020

Must See Video

" . . . While we have faced challenges before, this

one is different. This time we join with all Nations across the globe in a common endeavour using the great advances of science and our distinctive compassion to heal.  We will succeed, and

that success will belong to every one

of us. . . For now, I send my thanks

and warmest good wishes to all."

President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa addresses Nation on COVID-19 measures

March 30, 2020

Must See Video

Courtesy, eNCA -  CDC

" . . . There is each of all of us, South Africans . . . and the residents of our country who are standing together as one in confronting this National health emergency.  Amongst us are the men and women who rise at dawn every day and labour through the night to keep this country going. 

 

I speak of the farm worker who is helping to keep us supplied with food.  I speak of the technician in the power station working shift after shift to keep the lights on.  I speak of the caregiver in the old-age home; the childcare home and the hospice who comes in every day to tend to the most vulnerable of our citizens. 

 

I speak about the taxi driver, the refuse collector, the bus driver, the supermarket cashier, the hospital cleaner, the petrol attendant and all those essential workers."

"You are our unsung Heroes, and . . .

WE SALUTE YOU!"

President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa

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Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Wuhan for first time since start of Coronavirus outbreak

March 10, 2020

Must See Video

Courtesy, https://www.scmp.com/ -  CDC

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan – epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak – on March 10, 2020, as the number of new infections in mainland China continued its downward trend, with just 19 cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, confirmed the day before. It’s the first time Xi has visited the stricken capital of Hubei province since the epidemic began.

Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe

says 2020 Tokyo Olympics

will be postponed to 2021

March 24, 2020

Must See Video

Courtesy, Global News -  CDC

" . . . I asked if it would be possible to consider postponing the Games for approximately a year.  I received an answer from

President Bach [9th President of the IOC]  that he 

agreed 100 percent.  We agreed that we would 

hold the Tokyo Olympics and 

Paralympics by the Summer of 2021.  We agreed

that we would stay in close contact so that we would

be able to hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

in its complete form so that it will be a sign that

(humanity) has overcome the new corona virus."

Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe

JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE TOKYO 2020 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Learn more on the following web page:

The World's Poorest . . . Must not be forgotten!

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Detained children at ‘grave risk’ of contracting COVID-19 – UNICEF chief 

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Courtesy, United Nations / UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

Two young [child] prisoners stand behind bars in a jail in Abomey, Benin

Children . . . Must not be forgotten!

Learn more on the following web pages:

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As Corona Virus [COVID-19]

brings this world

to a halt . . .

UNICEF Won't STOP!

Tune in:  Saturday, May 23, 2020 10PM ET

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Let's ALL NOT STOP!

CLICK:  LEARN MORE

DONATE NOW:

Cool School Learning Tools for . . .

 Kids!

Hi Kids! Are you keeping up with

your school work at home?  

During this time of the

Corona Virus [COVID-19] - 

"staying home for safety," 

learning at home can

be a fun-filled

adventure!

​

Click below to discover some

"Cool School Learning Tools for Kids!"

As Nations great and small progress through the year 2021, may the 

lessons of 2020:

"The Year of COVID-19"

be a guide toward building back

a better world with the helpful

ingenuity of the whole 

"Family of Humanity."

- EPACHA Foundation -

 

 

If you’ve missed the work of EPACHA in its Phase I duration, please be encouraged to click on the below web links.

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Sincerest Thanks are Extended to http://archive.org/web/ for having made possible an archived viewing of

 

EPACHA Foundation’s entire volume of its Phase I web pages:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180321225044/http://www.epacha.org/Pages/Home_Page_BkUp3.aspx

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Complete List of EPACHA - Phase I web pages:

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https://web.archive.org/web/20180321224129/http://www.epacha.org/Pages/Site_Map_List_of_EPACHAs_Web_Pages.aspx

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J A N U A R Y   2 0 2 1   -   U P D A T E D   -   J U L Y   2 0 2 1

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EPACHA Foundation - All Rights Reserved

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