Thread by @kakape

“We have now seen seven consecutive weeks of increasing cases and four weeks of increasing deaths”, says @DrTedros at @WHO presser on #covid19. “Last week was the fourth highest number of cases in a single week so far."

@DrTedros @WHO "This is despite the fact that more than 780 million doses of vaccine have now been administered globally”, says @DrTedros.
"Make no mistake, vaccines are a vital and powerful tool, but they are not the only tool."

@DrTedros @WHO “Confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures, and their application are driving transmission and costing lives”, says @DrTedros.
"It takes a consistent, coordinated and comprehensive approach."

@DrTedros @WHO “WHO does not want endless lockdowns”, says @drtedros. “The countries that have done best have taken a tailored, measured, agile and evidence-based combination of measures."

@DrTedros @WHO "We too want to see societies and economies reopening and travel and trade resuming”, says @drtedros.
"But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing.
And people are dying.
And it is totally avoidable."

@DrTedros @WHO "This disease is not flu. Young, healthy people have died”, says @drtedros. "And we still don't fully understand the long term consequences of infection for those who survive.” He lists some long term symptoms incl. fatigue, brain fog, tremors, depression, anxiety, joint pain.

@DrTedros @WHO "With a concerted effort to apply public health measures, alongside equitable vaccination, we could bring this pandemic under control in months", says @drtedros. "Whether we do or not, comes down to the decisions and the actions that governments and individuals make every day."

@DrTedros @WHO WHO and partners are working to expand manufacturing capacity for vaccines/drugs in Africa and other regions, says @doctorsoumya. "This is something that will take some time” because it is not just about building physical infrastructure but training people, transferring know-how.

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya Q about mixing-and-matching vaccines.
“There are no data at this point on any mix and match regimens”, says @Kate_L_OBrien. "We really welcome studies that would look at mix and match regimen.” (Mentions the ongoing UK trial.)

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien Clinical endpoint of the UK trial mixing and matching AZ vaccine with mRNA vaccine is immunogenicity, says @doctorsoumya. Points out that it is crucial to define a correlate of protection to evaluate these studies and others going forward.

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien "COVAX facility has as of today, distributed just over 38.7 million doses”, says Bruce Aylward.
"The whole vaccine supply situation remains precarious and the challenge still because of such competing demands for these doses remains a very difficult one to manage."

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien "This is exactly the time where we need to double down on the non-pharmaceutical interventions, on masking and reducing transmission”, says @Kate_L_OBrien.
“We should be as diligent as ever, and assure that we're not releasing too early."

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien “We need headlines around these public health and social measures, we need headlines around the tools that we have right now that can prevent infections and save lives”, says @mvankerkhove.
"We are in a critical point of the pandemic right now."

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien @mvankerkhove “If you look on our website and you actually look at the epi curve and the trajectory of the pandemic right now, it is growing exponentially”, says @mvankerkhove.
"This is not the situation we want to be in 16 months into a pandemic, where we have proven control measures."

@DrTedros @WHO @doctorsoumya @Kate_L_OBrien @mvankerkhove Q about remdesivir
Final data on the drug from Solidarity trial (more than 4500 patients treated) is being analysed, says @doctorsoumya. “The data analysis is currently ongoing and we should be updating those results in the next few weeks."