Twenty coronavirus vaccines in development — WHO chief

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GENEVA, March 6 : Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said the organization has received applications for review and approval of 40 diagnostic tests on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and 20 vaccines are in development.

“Many clinical trials of therapeutics are also underway,” Dr. Tedros A. Ghebreyesus said at the media briefing on COVID-19 at the WHO HQ here on Friday.

“Even as we test therapeutics, we need to ensure that supplies of those medicines are available should they prove effective.
“WHO has been monitoring the potential risk of a disruption to medicines supplies as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic,” he said, noting that WHO is working closely with industry associations, regulators and other partners to monitor this risk

“We encourage every country to review WHO’s disease commodity package for COVID-19 to ensure it has the supplies it needs, including protective equipment and medical devices.

“All of this requires the involvement of the private sector to ensure countries can access life-saving products — We look forward to businesses stepping up to play their part. We need you.

“WHO is working with the World Economic Forum to engage companies around the world, and earlier this week I spoke to more than 200 CEOs about how they can protect their staff and customers, ensure business continuity and contribute to the response,” he went on.
On the latest figures of the epidemic, Dr. Ghebreyesus said, “In the past 24 hours, 2736 cases of COVID-19 were reported from 47 countries and territories.”

“There is now a total of 98,023 reported cases of COVID-19 globally, and 3380 deaths. We are now on the verge of reaching 100,000 confirmed cases.
“As cases increase, we are continuing to recommend that all countries make containment their highest priority.

“We continue to call on countries to find, test, isolate and care for every case, and to trace every contact,” he appealed.
“Slowing down the epidemic saves lives, and it buys time for preparedness and for research and development,” he added (KUNA)

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