The situation in India, where the pandemic is of unprecedented severity, is "
more than heartbreaking,
" said on Monday the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), which is helping the Asian giant.
Read also: India sinks under the second wave of Covid-19
"
WHO is doing all it can, providing essential supplies and equipment, including thousands of oxygen concentrators, prefabricated mobile field hospitals and laboratory equipment
," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a conference. Press.
In a few days, the “
Indian
”
variant
plunged the country of 1.3 billion inhabitants into chaos, prompting the announcement of emergency aid by several countries. India recorded this Sunday a world record of nearly 350,000 people infected in a single day. “
WHO has redeployed more than 2,600 staff to support the response on the ground, to support surveillance activities, technical advice and immunization efforts
,” said Dr Tedros.
WHO also indicated in an email to AFP that it was carrying out a rapid analysis of the situation in areas facing an upsurge in cases, making recommendations and supporting the implementation of these measures. The technical manager of the fight against Covid-19 within the WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove, called on all countries to "
not
let
their guard down
" to avoid experiencing an acceleration of the epidemic as in India. “
The situation is fragile globally,
” she said.
Overall, "
cases have now increased for the ninth consecutive week, and deaths have increased for the sixth consecutive week,
" worried the head of the WHO. “
There were almost as many cases in the world last week as during the first 5 months of the pandemic,
” he continued.