Five million Covid-19 deaths 'a global shame' — Antonio Guterres
Five million Covid-19 deaths 'a global shame' — Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has termed the more than five million COVID-19 deaths “a global shame,” and the latest reminder that much of the world is being “failed” by vaccine inequities.
According to research by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center the global death toll from the COVID pandemic hit over five million, just four months after four million people died from the disease.
The UN boss noted that the deaths are “not just numbers on a page. They are mothers and fathers. Brothers and sisters. Daughters and sons. Family, friends, and colleagues. Lives cut short by a merciless virus that respects no borders,” COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus.
He said the devastating milestone is a reminder that while wealthy countries are rolling out third “booster” jabs, only about 5 per cent of people in Africa are fully vaccinated.
Read also: Kenya gets about a million Pfizer doses from the US in fresh shipment
He urged world leaders to fully support the Global Vaccination Strategy he launched last month with the World Health Organization, and, through funding and vaccine donations, help meet the goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of people in all countries by the end of this year and 70 per cent by June 2022.
“The best way to honor those five million people lost... is to make vaccine equity a reality by accelerating our efforts and ensuring maximum vigilance to defeat this virus,” he said.
In Kenya, COVID-19 cumulative death toll was 5,281, with no death recorded in the last 24 hours as of start of November.
A total of 29 new Covid-19 infections were reported from a sample size of 3,684 tested in the last 24 hours, posting a positivity rate of 0.8 per cent.
This brings the total number of confirmed positive cases 253,339 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,708,500.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe in a statement noted that as of October 31, a total of 5,321,880 vaccines had so far been administered across the country.
"Of these, 3,688,884 were partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated were 1,632,996," he said.
The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose was 41.8 per cent. The proportion of adults fully vaccinated was six per cent.
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said on Monday that nearly seven billion vaccines have been administered across the globe.
