COVID-19: Funding plea to combat Delta variant, call to suspend booster roll-out
The Caribbean region is also seeing a rise in infections and deaths: in Jamaica cases rose by 49 per cent and deaths increased by 70 per cent, while steep rises are being reported in in Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
(United Nations News) During Wednesday’s World Health Organization briefing on COVID-19, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for funding to fight the spread of the deadly Delta variant while also asking wealthy countries to suspend plans to provide booster shots.
International efforts to slow the COVID-19 Delta variant have been hampered by its particularly virulent nature, which has led to hot spots of hospitalisations and deaths throughout regions with low vaccination levels and limited public health measures.
Tedros insisted that there are solutions to the challenge, such as the Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.
However, this plan urgently needs an additional $1 billion dollars. Similarly, a $7.7 billion appeal has been launched to scale up the ACT-Accelerator initiative, which is providing testing, treatments, vaccines and protective equipment for health workers, along with enhanced research and development into the next generation of health tools.
Source: CARICOM TODAY