Thread by @kakape

“Globally there is currently a lot of concern about the #deltavariant, and @WHO is concerned about it too”, says @DrTedros at #covid19 presser.
“Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far... and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations."

@WHO @DrTedros “New variants are expected and will continue to be reported. That’s what viruses do: they evolve”, says @drtedros
“But we can prevent the emergence of variants by preventing transmission.
It’s quite simple:
More transmission, more variants.
Less transmission, less variants."

@WHO @DrTedros "This is why WHO has been saying for at least a year that vaccines must be distributed equitably, to protect health workers and the most vulnerable”, says @DrTedros.

@WHO @DrTedros Tedros talking about the role of emergency medical teams or EMTs, “doctors, nurses, paramedics, support workers and logisticians, who provide care for patients affected by an emergency”.
"Globally, WHO has certified teams from 20 countries", 87 further countries working on it.

@WHO @DrTedros "Some of the most recent deployments of emergency medical teams were in Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Costa Rica. In Greece, teams from Norway and Germany were deployed following a fire at a refugee camp on the island of Lesbos”, says @DrTedros.

@WHO @DrTedros “On Wednesday, a market outside the city of Mekelle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia was bombed, killing and wounding civilians. Ambulances were blocked for more than a day from attending the scene and evacuating the wounded for medical care”, says @drtedros.

@WHO @DrTedros "WHO is currently providing life-saving trauma and surgical supplies to a hospital that is treating survivors who were able to reach care. Attacks on civilians anywhere are completely unacceptable and so is denying them access to immediate care”, says @drtedros.

@WHO @DrTedros Q: concerns that countries that receiving doses through COVAX might not be able to administer these vaccines?
"I have to say I get a little bit frustrated with the big focus on the delivery challenge countries will have, because we have a supply challenge”, says Bruce Aylward.

@WHO @DrTedros “Many countries in the South are much better than countries in the North at delivering mass population-based vaccination”, says @DrMikeRyan.
“They've proven it again and again, with yellow fever, with meningitis, with cholera, with Ebola, with polio, with measles.”

@WHO @DrTedros @DrMikeRyan “The problem is lack of access to vaccines, and that's causing a two track pandemic”, says @drtedros. Highly vaccinated countries are opening up, while other places face surges with severe disease and death.
"That's the reality now.
So let's be real.
What we need is vaccines."

@WHO @DrTedros @DrMikeRyan “The whole world is sick and tired of lockdowns”, says @drtedros. “The whole world wants to be opened up and the tools are in our hands to open it up.
So we need vaccines. "

@WHO @DrTedros @DrMikeRyan When the virus changes, "we need to intensify what we're doing now because the same things will work”, says @DrMikeRyan.
"We just need to be more cautious more diligent and more dedicated to that task and that's really tough when all we want to do is go back to our normal lives."