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2.8 Million Deaths and 131 Million Corona Virus Infections, Mostly in the US, Brazil, Mexico, India, UK, Italy, Russia, France, Germany, Spain, Colombia, and Iran

April 4, 2021

 

 

As of April 04, 2021, 12:18 GMT,

World 131,488,182 infection cases, and 2,861,480 deaths.

A list of countries with the highest Coronavirus (Covid-19) deaths:

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1 USA 31,383,126 infection cases, and 568,513 deaths.
2 Brazil 12,953,597 infection cases, and 330,297 deaths.

3 Mexico 2,249,195 infection cases, and 204,011 deaths.
4 India 12,485,509 infection cases, and 164,655 deaths.
5 UK 4,357,091 infection cases, and 126,826 deaths.

6 Italy 3,650,247 infection cases, and 110,704 deaths.

7 Russia 4,580,894 infection cases, and 100,374 deaths.
8 France 4,741,759 infection cases, and 96,493 deaths.

9 Germany 2,886,020 infection cases, and 77,502 deaths.

10 Spain 3,300,965 infection cases, and 75,698 deaths.
11 Colombia 2,437,197 infection cases, and 63,932 deaths.
12 Iran 1,932,074 infection cases, and 63,160 deaths.

13 Argentina 2,383,537 infection cases, and 56,106 deaths.

14 Poland 2,438,542 infection cases, and 54,941 deaths.

15 South Africa 1,551,501 infection cases, and 52,954 deaths.

16 Peru 1,573,961 infection cases, and 52,625 deaths.
Coronavirus Update (Live): 131,488,182 Cases and 2,861,480 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

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WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 1 April 2021

WHO, 1 April 2021

This week, more than 25 leaders from the G20, G7 and from every region, united behind the idea of a pandemic treaty. I am pleased that more leaders are now joining the call for a pandemic treaty, which would be a generational commitment to keeping the world safe. There will always be new pathogens with pandemic potential.  

One key aspect that should be enshrined in the treaty, is to a stronger health workforce which is the very essence of health systems resilience. This is the year of the health and care worker and we know that even before the pandemic, there was a shortfall of at least 18 million health workers. As we work to end the pandemic and recover together, health and care workers must come first.   

Investing in the health workforce is an investment in women and youth: almost 70% of the global health workforce are women. In particular we must support countries with fewer resources to expand their workforce capacity and pay decent salaries. 

The clock is still ticking on vaccine equity. We have nine days left until we reach the hundredth day of the year and the target of starting vaccine rollout to health workers and those at-risk in all countries remains in our grasp. 

Today, I’m happy to welcome former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, who has joined the ACT-Accelerator as a special advisor. Carl will help lead the collective advocacy for the ACT-Accelerator, mobilizing support and critical resources so it can deliver against its strategy for 2021.  
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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening,

This week, more than 25 leaders from the G20, G7 and from every region, united behind the idea of a pandemic treaty. 

There’s an acknowledgement and humility from those leaders that collectively the world was not prepared for the first coronavirus pandemic ever seen and that going forward we must collectively do better in future outbreaks.  
There’s been a great deal of momentum since the President of the European Council, Charles Michel and I spoke about this at Tuesday’s press conference.

I am pleased that more leaders are now joining the call for a pandemic treaty, which would be a generational commitment to keeping the world safe.

There will always be new pathogens with pandemic potential. 
It’s not a matter of if but when.  

One key aspect that should be enshrined in the treaty, is to a stronger health workforce, which is the very essence of health systems resilience.  

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An effective health work force is a key element to pandemic proofing our health systems.
Health and care workers are at the forefront of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and they play the critical role in protecting us all.

Far too many health and care workers have died in the pandemic, millions have been infected and the pandemic has taken a huge toll on their physical and mental health with devastating effects on their families and communities.

Anxiety, depression, insomnia, stress have all increased; exhaustion is commonplace and there have been cases of stigma and even abuse.

I give thanks to those that have stood up in one of humanity’s toughest periods.

This is the year of the health and care worker and we know that even before the pandemic, there was a shortfall of at least 18 million health workers. 
As we work to end the pandemic and recover together, health and care workers must come first.  

We must ensure that they are trained, protected and supported to do their job safely and effectively.

As recognized in last week’s UN Financing for Sustainable Development report, a true recovery from the pandemic requires additional investment in health and in people.

These two priorities can be achieved if we invest in the health workforce.

Investing in the health workforce is an investment in women and youth: almost 70% of the global health workforce are women.

In particularly, we must support countries with fewer resources to expand their workforce capacity and pay decent salaries.
And we must ensure that they are at the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines.

I would now like to turn to Health Minister of Turkey, Dr. Fahrettin Koca.

Turkey has been a strong champion of 2021 being the year of the Health and Care Workforce.

Dr. Koca the floor is yours.

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Dr. Koca speaks (7 mins)
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Thank you, Dr. Koca. I am glad that vaccines are rolling out to health workers in this difficult period in the pandemic. 
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The clock is still ticking on vaccine equity.

We have nine days left until we reach the hundredth day of the year and the target of starting vaccine rollout to health workers and those at-risk in all countries remains in our grasp. 
COVAX has already delivered 35 million doses to more than 78 countries. 
But there is still a serious challenge on vaccine equity and availability.

Last week, I made an urgent request to countries, with doses of vaccines that have WHO Emergency Use Listing, to share 10 million doses immediately with COVAX.

The extra 10 million doses would be an urgent stop-gap measure so that 20 countries, which are ready but haven’t got the supply needed to start vaccinating their health workers and older people, could begin before the hundredth day – 10 April.

I also requested manufacturers to help ensure that the countries that step up can rapidly donate those doses.  

This challenge has been heard but we’re yet to receive commitments for these doses.

I’m still hopeful that some forward looking and enlightened leaders will step up.

I know this is a challenging time for many countries as cases and hospitalisations are spiking.

But conversely, it’s when cases are spiking that it’s the most important time to share vaccines equitably and protect health workers and at-risk communities. 

The race is on to get vaccines to those places and groups where they can have the greatest impact.

We’re not in a race against each other, we’re in a race against the virus and over the last year, the ACT Accelerator has been critical for ensuring that new vaccines, lifesaving oxygen, corticosteroids for severe disease and rapid tests are being shared more equitably.

Today, I’m happy to welcome former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt who I appointed as WHO Special Envoy to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.

Carl will help lead the collective advocacy for the ACT-Accelerator, mobilizing support and critical resources so it can deliver against its strategy for 2021. 
My friend, Carl, the floor is yours. 
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Carl Bildt speaks
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Thank you for those inspiring words, Carl and look forward to working with you.

I couldn’t agree more and believe that with your support we can take the ACT-Accelerator to the next level, overcome vaccine nationalism so that we defeat this pandemic and recover together.

I thank you!  

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 1 April 2021

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Global leaders unite in urgent call for international pandemic treaty

WHO, 30 March 2021  News release   Geneva, Switzerland   Reading time: 2 min (509 words)

25 heads of government and international agencies come together in extraordinary joint call

New treaty would signal high-level political action needed to protect the world from future health crises

The international community should work together “towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response” to build a more robust global health architecture that will protect future generations, world leaders said in a commentary published today in several newspapers around the world.

“There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone,” the leaders say in their article. “The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.”

The main goal of a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response would be to foster a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach to strengthen national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This is an opportunity for the world to come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond this crisis.

According to the article, the treaty “would be rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization, drawing in other relevant organizations key to this endeavour, in support of the principle of health for all. Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin such a treaty, ensuring a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve.”

The commentary has been signed by J. V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji; Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand; António Luís Santos da Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal; Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy; Klaus  Iohannis, President of Romania; Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda; Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya; Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Charles Michel, President of the European Council; Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea; Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile; Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa; Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Kais Saied, President of Tunisia; Macky Sall, President of Senegal; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Erna Solberg, Prime Miniser of Norway; Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia; Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia; Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.

Global leaders unite in urgent call for international pandemic treaty (who.int) 

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