COVID-19 infections have been growing at an alarming rate for eight consecutive weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
More than 5.2 million new cases were reported last week , the most in a single week since the start of the pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying by CNN.
Deaths also rose for the fifth week in a row, he said, with the death toll officially exceeding 3 million. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the pandemic is accelerating, despite vaccination programs.
“It took nine months to reach 1 million deaths, four months to reach 2 million and three months to reach 3 million deaths,” Tedros said.
The WHO Emergency Committee on Covid-19 opposes a compulsory vaccination passport for international travelers, despite the fact that it seems attractive.
A meeting of the WHO Emergency Committee on covid-19 took place on Thursday, but its findings were made public last Monday.
Experts tasked with advising the WHO director recommend, in a statement, “that no proof of vaccination can be required as a condition of entry” of international travelers, “given (that there is) limited evidence (although still more) on the performance of vaccines in terms of reducing transmission and given the persistent inequality in the global distribution of vaccines ”.
“States Parties are strongly encouraged to recognize that requesting a vaccination test may aggravate inequalities and promote differentiated freedom of movement,” they said.
This call comes in the context of many countries reflecting on the implementation of a health passport for travel, but also on other activities – namely sports – despite the fact that this idea provokes harsh criticism and concerns about possible discrimination and protection of private data.
The European Union (EU) has presented a project in this regard, China has launched its own version, and airlines are working on this. In the United States, the White House announced in early April that it did not require a health passport, but stressed that the private sector was free to move forward.