The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is expected to reach 10 million within the next week, while underlining the vital role of oxygen concentrators in saving lives of severe and critical patients.
More than 9.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 470,000 deaths have been reported to the WHO, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at Wednesday’s press briefing.
“In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10,000 cases were reported to WHO. In the last month, almost 4 million cases have been reported. We expect to reach a total of 10 million cases within the next week. This is a sober reminder that even as we continue research into vaccines and therapeutics, we have an urgent responsibility to do everything we can with the tools we have now to suppress transmission and save lives,” he added.
Also speaking at the press briefing, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, Michael Ryan, said that the situation in the Americas is “still evolving, not having reached its peak yet and likely to result in a sustained number of cases and continued deaths in the coming weeks.”
Ryan said that nobody wants to go back to population-wide, society-wide lockdowns, but the only way in some circumstances to avoid that now is a very aggressive investment in the capacity to detect cases, confirmed cases, quarantine contacts, and keep communities onboard and willing, able without coercion to support clear messaging and clear instructions and requests from the government, in a trusting environment.
The WHO chief underlined the vital role of using oxygen concentrators as one of the most effective ways to save severe and critical COVID-19 patients’ lives, as they cannot get enough oxygen into their blood by breathing normally and thus need higher concentrations of oxygen and support to get it into their lungs. Left untreated, severe COVID-19 deprives cells and organs of the oxygen they need, which ultimately leads to organ failure and death.
“WHO estimates that at the current rate of about 1 million new cases a week, the world needs about 620,000 cubic meters of oxygen a day, which is about 88,000 large cylinders. However, many countries are now experiencing difficulties in obtaining oxygen concentrators. 80 percent of the market is owned by just a few companies, and demand is currently outstripping supply. WHO and the UN partners are working with manufacturers across the world through a variety of private sector networks to buy oxygen concentrators for countries that need them most,” Tedros said.
Ongoing talks have enabled the WHO to buy 14,000 oxygen concentrators, which will be sent to 120 countries in the coming weeks. A further 170,000 concentrators, with a value of 100 million U.S. dollars, can be available over the next six months. In addition, the WHO has bought 9,800 pulse oximeters, a simple device used to monitor oxygen in a patient’s blood, which are being prepared for shipment.
Via Reuters
