Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General (D-G) of World Health Organisation (WHO), says the organisation requires $1.7 billion to respond to COVID-19 between now and the end of 2020.
Ghebreyesus, in his speech posted on the verified WHO website, made the remark at a news conference in Geneva on Friday.
He said the amount represents the resources WHO estimates it needs to deliver on its updated Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19.
“The updated plan estimates that WHO requires $1.7 billion to respond to COVID-19, across the three levels of the organisation, between now and the end of 2020.
“This estimate includes the funds that WHO has already received to date, leaving WHO’s COVID-19 response with a funding gap of $1.3 billion for 2020.
“To be clear, this estimate only covers WHO’s needs, not the entire global need,’’ Ghebreyesus said.
According to him, WHO is deeply grateful to the countries and donors who responded to WHO’s initial Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.
“WHO is also grateful to the hundreds of thousands of individuals, corporations and foundations who have contributed to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund – we thank you so much for your commitment and support.
“Our updated strategic plan takes into account the lessons we have learned so far, strengthening WHO’s role in global and regional coordination.
“It is built on five strategic objectives: First, to mobilise all sectors and communities; second, to control sporadic cases and clusters by rapidly finding and isolating all cases.
“Third, to suppress community transmission through infection prevention and control and physical distancing; fourth, to reduce mortality through appropriate care.
“And fifth is to develop safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics,’’ Ghebreyesus said.
To support these objectives, he said WHO would continue to provide technical, operational and logistics support to countries, and we will continue to update and adapt our guidance according to local needs.
“In certain fragile settings and countries with weaker health systems, WHO will continue its operational work as a provider of essential health services,’’ the Director-General said.
The body also said 29 million to 44 million Africans may get infected with COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail, according to a study.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, disclosed this in a statement posted on its website.
The UN health agency also said the study revealed that 83,000 to 190,000 people in Africa could die of COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic.
“The research, which is based on prediction modelling, looks at 47 countries in the WHO African Region with a total population of one billion.
“The new estimates are based on modifying the risk of transmission and disease severity by variables specific to each country in order to adjust for the unique nature of the region.
“The model predicts the observed slower rate of transmission, lower age of people with severe disease and lower mortality rates compared to what is seen in most affected countries in the rest of the world.
“This is largely driven by social and environmental factors slowing the transmission, and a younger population that has benefitted from the control of communicable diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis to reduce possible vulnerabilities,’’ it said.
The lower rate of transmission, however, suggested a more prolonged outbreak over a few years, according to the study.
It also revealed that smaller African countries alongside Algeria, South Africa and Cameroon were at a high risk if containment measures were not prioritised.
“Containment measures, which include contact tracing, isolation, improved personal hygiene practices and physical distancing aim to slow down the transmission of the virus so its effects happen at a rate manageable by the health system.
“Physical distancing is not about the confinement of people but rather avoiding unnecessary contacts as people live, work and socialise as a means to interrupt transmission,’ it said.
The statement quoted Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, as saying:“ While COVID-19 likely won’t spread as exponentially in Africa as it has elsewhere in the world, it likely will smoulder in transmission hotspots.
“COVID-19 can become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region. We need to test, trace, isolate and treat,” it further stated.
It further said that the predicted number of cases that would require hospitalisation would overwhelm the available medical capacity in much of Africa.
“There will be an estimated 3.6 million–5.5 million COVID-19 hospitalisations, of which 82,000 – 167, 000 will be severe cases requiring oxygen, and 52, 000 –107, 000 will be critical cases requiring breathing support.
“Such a huge number of patients in hospitals will severely strain the health capacities of countries,’’ it stated.
It said a survey of health services in the African region undertaken in March 2020 based on self-reports by 47 countries to WHO, revealed that there were on average, nine intensive care unit beds per one million people.
“These will be woefully inadequate. Additionally, the physical access to these services to the general population is very low, suggesting many people will not even have the chance to get to the needed care.
“Diseases that can be managed can easily become more complicated as a result.
“The study recommends that countries across Africa need to expand the capacity, particularly of primary hospitals and ensure that basic emergency care is included in primary health systems,” it said.
The statement further quoted Moeti as saying, “The importance of promoting effective containment measures is ever more crucial, as sustained and widespread transmission of the virus can severely overwhelm our health systems.
“Curbing a large scale outbreak is far costlier than the ongoing preventive measures governments are undertaking to contain the spread of the virus,” it said.
All countries in the WHO African Region were using these results through the WHO country offices to inform their containment actions.
The detailed methods and results were currently in press at the British Medical Journal-Global Health after extensive peer review and validation.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the Ogun State Government says it is constrained to extend the existing lockdown in the state by one week.
Governor Dapo Abiodun, who made this known while addressing journalists in Abeokuta, said it had become imperative to extend the lockdown as a means to save lives.
The extension, however, is contrary to the expectation of residents who had thought the lockdown would be eased after Sunday.
According to the governor, people have shown disregard to laid down precautions against the pandemic, hence the need to take more drastic actions.
“My dear people of Ogun State, while I am not a prophet of doom, I will rather err on the side of responsibility.
“Reports reaching us have shown that many of our people are showing utter disregard for the precautionary guidelines, international best practices and safety measures rolled out, especially, during the window of relaxation of the lockdown.
“We have heard and seen the havoc that COVID-19 continues to wreck in other lands. Let us learn from these experiences,”he said.
Abiodun said that the lockdown, which would continue for another week, is subject to review on a weekly basis, while the windows of relaxation remains.
He added that the daily curfew and ban on non-essential of inter-state travel as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari still stands.
“Now, to preserve the lives of our people, we are persuaded to extend the current modified lockdown, which has been slightly eased, for another one week alongside the current guidelines.
“Windows of relaxation will continue to be available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 7a.m to 5p.m on each day of the relaxation.
“Wearing of a face mask is mandatory. It is important to note that we have provided, and continue to provide, facemasks to public servants, groups and association,” Abiodun said.
The governor, however, assured people of the state not to panic as efforts are ongoing to widen the coverage of the testing process just as contact tracing capacity have been intensified.
“As at today, we have screened over 10,000 people and tested over 700. In addition to that, we have intensified our contact tracing capacity and have traced over 551 contacts of the COVID-19 positive patients.
“We are doing this to detect and treat people who are already infected rather than leaving them undetected which will be more detrimental because this will increase community transmission,” he added.
