Update on COVID-19 in WHO ’s Eastern Mediterranean Region

24 June 2021 – I would like to welcome you all to this virtual media briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. We are glad to have with us today, Dr Hany Jokhdar, Deputy Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia, and Dr Ibrahim El-Ziq, WHO Representative in Saudi Arabia, to discuss the preparations for this year's hajj season. Let me start with the latest updates on COVID-19.  As of 22 June 2021, there have been around 179 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including more than 3.9 million deaths, reported globally to WHO. The Eastern Mediterranean Region has reported around 10.8 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and around 213 500 deaths. The number of cases is declining for the tenth week in a row, with the number of deaths stabilizing or declining slightly. While this is good news, 6 countries in the Region reported an increase in new cases last week, compared to the previous week. The case increase in Oman and Yemen exceeded 20%, and Afghanistan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen have reported a more than 20% increase in the number of deaths. We believe there are several reasons for these increases, including the spread of variants of concern, lack of adherence to preventative measures, and vaccine inequity, which, along with vaccine hesitancy, is being witnessed globally and across our Region. As of 21 June, 2.4 billion vaccine doses had been administered globally, of which approximately 83 million were administered in the Re...
Source: WHO EMRO News - Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news