WHO head ‘very concerned’ about COVID deaths as emergency declaration call looms

As the World Health Organization prepares to decide whether COVID-19 remains a global emergency, the UN agencys director-general says key pandemic indicators are going in the wrong direction, including a rising number of deaths.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday he is very concerned about the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and the impact it continues to have in many countries.

In the past eight weeks, more than 170,000 people have died of COVID-19. That’s just reported, as the actual number of deaths is much higher, he said.

While I will not preempt the advice of the emergency committee, I remain very concerned by the situation in many countries and the rising number of deaths.

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WHO data shows that in the 28 days between Dec. 19, 2022, and Jan. 15, the number of COVID deaths worldwide increased by 20 per cent compared with the previous 28 days. Over 662 million confirmed cases and over 6.7 million deaths have been reported globally.

In Canada, the death toll from COVID-19 surpassed a grim milestone of 50,000, the country’s public health agency confirmed Monday.