New Delhi: With over one million lives now lost to COVID-19 globally, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that while the “agonizing milestone” is a “mind-numbing figure”, the world must never lose sight of each and every individual life.
“They were fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues,” he said in a statement.
The pain has been multiplied by the “savageness” of the disease, the Secretary-General added, noting that the risk of infection kept families from being with their loved ones, and the process of mourning and celebrating a life was often made impossible.
“How do you say goodbye without holding a hand, or extending a gentle kiss, a warm embrace, a final whisper ‘I love you?’”
At the same time, there is still no end in sight to the spread of the virus, the loss of jobs, the disruption of education, the upheaval to our lives, said Guterres.
However, we can overcome this challenge, he urged, underlining the need to “learn from the mistakes”.
“Responsible leadership matters. Science matters. Cooperation matters – and misinformation kills. As the relentless hunt for a vaccine continues – a vaccine that must be available and affordable to all – let’s do our part to save lives,” said Guterres.
Meanwhile, a new COVID-19 diagnostic test, which can provide reliable results quickly, at a lower price and using less sophisticated technology, will help expand capacity to detect cases in low and middle-income countries, the WHO has announced.
Through agreements between WHO and partners, 120 million such tests will be made available to these countries, over a period of six months.
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