GCC officials review Covid-19 situation

The World Health Organization has urged all to take vaccine and be part of the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic as the virus is still not away from the world even as the GCC Under-Secretaries of Health Ministries held on Sunday a virtual meeting to discuss the latest developments of the new variant Omicron and efforts to combat it.

The meeting held under the auspices of Dr Mohammed bin Saif al Hosni, Under-Secretary for Health Affairs at the Ministry of Health (MoH) and attended by senior officials reviewed the global situation and actions taken for each Gulf country.

“The emergence of the Omicron variant underlines the importance of global solidarity and working together to defeat the pandemic. Now, more than ever, we need to facilitate equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests, and encourage everyone to follow public health measures,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said at a press briefing.

The WHO announcement comes in the wake of the campaign to promote access to Covid-19 tools during Fifa Arab Cup as part of global partnership between Fifa A and the world body.

The WHO observes that a large portion of the global population remains susceptible to infection and at an increased risk of severe disease and death. Inequity in vaccine is prevailing in different parts of the world.

“Nobody is safe until everyone is safe and we all have our roles to play in sharing that message. Health comes first, and through football, we can reinforce the message that high infection and death rates will persist worldwide as long as there is inequitable access to tools to fight the pandemic,” Gianni Infantino, Fifa President, said at the press briefing.

Although some Gulf countries except the Sultanate of Oman have registered few cases of the new variant, no one was admitted to the Intensive Care Units, or no related deaths have been reported until now. However, the meeting observed that its prevalence and intensity are still undetermined.