Kai KupferschmidtVerified account

"So-called lockdowns and the impact on global travel and trade have already taken such a heavy toll”, says @DrTedros at @WHO #covid19 presser. "The global economy is expected to contract by trillions of dollars this year."

"Many countries have poured money into domestic stimulus packages”, says @drtedros. "But these investments will not on their own address the root cause of the economic crisis – which is the disease that paralyses health systems, disrupts economies and drives fear and uncertainty“

Today, @WHO and partners are publishing strategy plan and investment case for scale-up phase of the ACT Accelerator, says @DrTedros. Aims to deliver - 2 billion doses of vaccine - 245 million treatment courses - 500 million tests to low/middle income countries by end of 2021

Current financing gap is $35 billion, says @drtedros. "To put it in perspective, $35 billion is less than 1% of what G20 governments have already committed to domestic economic stimulus packages… It's roughly equivalent to what the world spends on cigarettes every two weeks"

Q: World is close to 1 million #covid19 deaths. Is it possible another million will die? “One million is a terrible number and I think we need to reflect on that before we start considering the second million”, says @DrMikeRyan. "There is a lot that can be done to save lives."

“Whether another million people die of #COVID19 is not a function of whether or not we have a vaccine”, says Bruce Aylward. "It's a function of whether or not we put the tools and approaches and knowledge that we have today to work to save lives and prevent transmission."