Thread by @kakape

“#Covid19 is an uneven pandemic”, says @DrTedros at @WHO press conference on #sarscov2. “70% of cases and deaths are in just four countries.”
(Number seems wrong to me, though general point is true of course. Will check.)

@DrTedros @WHO So, according to @WHO’s own numbers US, India, Brazil and Russia account for about 30 million cases, pretty exactly half the global total of now more than 60 million cases.
On deaths: about 660,000 are US, Brazil, India and Mexico, less than half the 1,4 million global deaths.

@DrTedros @WHO Many countries have shown #covid19 can be controlled with existing tools, says @DrTedros. "One of the things all these countries have in common is an emphasis on testing."

@DrTedros @WHO “At the start of the pandemic, just two African countries had laboratory testing capacity for #covid19”, says @drtedros. "By the end of February, 32 countries in Africa had testing capacity, and now all countries can test for #COVID19"

@DrTedros @WHO Testing will remain important as vaccines start to be rolled out, says @drtedros. At first older people and health workers will be immunised. "That will still leave the #COVID19 virus with a lot of room to move, and testing will remain a vital tool for controlling the pandemic"

@DrTedros @WHO "If you don’t know where the virus is, you can’t stop it. If you don’t know who has the virus, you can’t isolate them, care for them or trace their contacts.”, says @drtedros. "Everyone who needs a test should get a test."

@DrTedros @WHO Q about Brazil.
“Most of Central and South America went through a very tough time in terms of cases and deaths”, says @DrMikeRyan. “The numbers have progressively fallen in most countries over a couple of months, but now we see the prospect of numbers increasing again."

@DrTedros @WHO @DrMikeRyan Message from second peak in Europe is that “where countries have taken decisive action to try and reduce community transmission, they've managed to turn that curve around”, says @DrMikeRyan.

@DrTedros @WHO @DrMikeRyan Death rates have dropped, says @DrMikeRyan: “That's been very much down to doctors and nurses, having more time with patients, having more time to give clinical care. If we get back to a situation where intensive care units are overwhelmed, we will see the death rates rise again"

@DrTedros @WHO @DrMikeRyan "All countries need to remain vigilant”, says @mvankerkhove. "It is good to see the measures taking effect and transmission going down. But it is not time to let up. It's time to even scale up."

@DrTedros @WHO @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove “There is no reason to have another wave or another surge”, says @mvankerkhove. "It is within our power to be able to keep transmission low. And we've seen dozens of countries show us that it can be brought under control, and it can stay under control."

Correction here by the way from @WHO re the first tweet:

https://twitter.com/gabbystern/status/1332364113142571010

@WHO Q about origins.
“The international team has started to work with the counterparts in China”, says @Peterfoodsafety. “We are starting now to discuss the famous phase 1 studies the studies that need to be conducted in and around Wuhan to look back at what happened in late 2019."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety WHO has reached out to researchers in Italy claiming serological evidence of infections last year, says @mvankerkhove. “They have generously offered to work with us and to collaborate with us on some further studies looking at those samples."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove Q about results from AstraZeneca vaccine.
“It's too early for us to say anything about what we make of the data and what is needed next”, says @Kate_L_OBrien. "What we really need to see is more than a press release and to really see the data."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien “It appears that less than 3000 people were given the schedule with the half dose followed by the full dose of the vaccine and we also understand that those people were all under 55”, says @doctorsoumya. “The numbers are still small to really come to any definitive conclusions."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya "I must say that it's been very encouraging to see that many of the manufacturers and developers have actually published their protocols”, says @doctorsoumya. “I think that transparency and sharing is extremely important."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya On global access to vaccines, @DrMikeRyan says: “In situations like this we tend to be unfair first, inequitous. And then eventually the glaring gap is so big and with activists from community level and others, the world has to turn around and find a way to be fair."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan “In my professional eperience, this is the first time, fairness and equity were built into this project from day one”, says @DrMikeRyan. Thanks @DrTedros for this and calls it “one of the most effective public private partnerships in the history of science."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @DrTedros Earlier, @HelenBranswell asked whether it is clear how many people need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.
Some modelling studies concluded that around 60 to 70%, of the population would need to be immune, says @Kate_L_OBrien. But really depends on vaccine characteristics.

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @DrTedros @HelenBranswell Not just whether vaccines prevent infections, she says.
"Do vaccines change the amount of time that you're actually infected? Does it change the density of the infection, does it change the transmissibility to another person? Those are all really important characteristics."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @DrTedros @HelenBranswell "This virus is very opportunistic", @DrMikeRyan adds, so herd immunity threshold is not just an absolute number. “It may be that it will take some very clever vaccination strategies to highly target people in our society who are more likely to carry, transmit and superspread"

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @DrTedros @HelenBranswell “I think we will need some numbers to guide us in terms of policy, but I think we will need to be much more surgical and precise in exactly who we target for vaccination”, says @DrMikeRyan. "It may be much more important to target certain sections of the community."

@WHO @Peterfoodsafety @mvankerkhove @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @DrTedros @HelenBranswell “We will need to be very very careful to make sure we send the right messages to people”, says @DrMikeRyan. Says high hopes that vaccines will impact mortality and transmission “But I don't think anyone can promise eradication of this virus, until we understand much more."