How is the world responding to Covid-19?

The White House earlier this week announced that the second Global Summit on Covid-19 will be held on May 12. The focus of the conference is expected to be on finding ways to share vaccines and treatments that can end the critical period, while continuing to research the virus and prepare for future pandemics.

People picnic in Seoul, Korea Reuters

Global downtrend

Presently SARS-CoV-2 still spreading in many countries, but the rate of new cases and deaths has decreased over the past several weeks (decreased in the last 7 days compared to the previous 7 days at 28% globally). According to updated data of the Worldometer statistics website, as of last night, April 19, more than 505 million infections have been recorded in more than 220 countries and territories, of which more than 6.2 million deaths and more than 457 million recoveries. On April 18, 112 countries and territories recorded new cases and 63 places recorded deaths.

After more than two years of response, many countries are actively adapting to the new wave of epidemics and speeding up the process of returning to normal life, treating Covid-19 as an endemic disease. According to Reuters, the UK has lifted almost all public health measures and social distancing. Some other European countries stopped using vaccine passportwhile in Oceania, New Zealand will end the mandatory vaccination from next month for many target groups.

The United States announced on April 18 that it would stop enforcing the mandatory requirement to wear masks on public transport and on planes. Singapore Yesterday, it was announced that it plans to lift all regulations on Covid-19 testing for fully vaccinated travelers, possibly in a few weeks. Thailand from the beginning of this month no longer requires visitors to have been vaccinated

Vaccines are tested before entry and will soon continue to remove the regulation of PCR testing of travelers at the airport and replace it with a rapid antigen test from May 1, according to Bloomberg. Cambodia since mid-March does not require international visitors to have had a full dose of vaccine tested before entering. South Korea has also largely lifted its Covid-19 regulations. Private China continued the policy of “zero Covid” with the blockade of many cities as infections increased.

Pandemic warning has not passed

According to the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO) on April 12, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread strongly and the death rate is high mainly among people who have not been vaccinated. Variant omicron-fast-het-hon-delta-3-day-post1446628.html” title=”New UK study: Omicron symptoms clear up 3 days faster than Delta”>Omicron has quickly taken over globally. Omicron is thought to cause milder disease, but Omicron still poses a high risk to unvaccinated people.The high number of hospital admissions also puts pressure on health systems in countries.WHO warns of disproportionate health rates vaccinate in areas and remind countries to be careful in lifting public health measures.

WHO experts say that the pandemic is far from over and even if it becomes endemic, millions of people die every year. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a recent speech noted that the level of transmission is still high while vaccine coverage is very low in many countries. In addition, deregulation facilitates contagion, risking the emergence of new variants. The US president’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, recently warned that the future of the Covid-19 pandemic is still unclear, but new variants may appear in places that have not been covered with a vaccine. In addition, he noted that increasing the number of variants can lead to “seasonal Covid”, when the virus gets stronger every few months.