Despite the ongoing global response to COVID-19, the world cannot lose sight of the significant public health risk posed by influenza, which affects every country every year and takes its own deadly toll, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
“As we enter the southern hemisphere influenza season…we must ensure influenza remains a top priority”, the agency chief said during his media briefing. “Co-circulation of COVID-19 and influenza can worsen the impact on health systems that are already overwhelmed.”
Globally, more than 7.8 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 430,000 deaths caused by the virus have been reported to WHO. More than 100,000 cases have been reported each day for the last two weeks – almost 75 percent of them from 10 countries in the Americas and South Asia.
“Countries must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence,” he said.
Just last week, China reported a new cluster of cases in Beijing after more than 50 days without a single case in the city. With more than 100 cases now confirmed, the origin and extent of the outbreak are being investigated.
At the same time, he said more than 500 million people are vaccinated against flu each year, based on recommendations made by WHO on the composition of flu vaccines. To know which viruses are circulating, WHO relies on information reported by 125 countries through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Reporting System, which the agency uses to make recommendations for the composition of flu vaccines.
Original source: UN News
Published on 15 June 2020
