{"id":61258,"date":"2020-02-08T12:26:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T04:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61258"},"modified":"2020-02-08T12:26:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T04:26:29","slug":"global-shortage-of-anti-virus-masks-who-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61258","title":{"rendered":"Global shortage of anti-virus masks: WHO chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AP20034243060615.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1328530\"\/><figcaption>WHO says the world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>GENEVA, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The world is running out of masks and other protective equipment against the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization chief warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE),&#8221; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO&#8217;s executive board in Geneva.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WHO said prices for some items were up to 20 times higher than normal, and Tedros told reporters the problem was being made worse by &#8220;inappropriate use&#8221; of masks by people who were neither sick nor medical staff.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There are now depleted stockpiles and backlogs of four to six months. Global stocks of masks and respirators are now insufficient to meet the needs of WHO and our partners,&#8221; he said, adding: &#8220;There is a moral issue here.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After speaking to a supply chain group of producers and distributors on Friday, Tedros praised those companies that have promised to sell only to medical staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There is limited stock of PPE and we need to make sure we get it to the people who need it most in the places that need it most,&#8221; he said, warning against &#8220;stockpiling of PPE in countries and areas where transmission is low&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WHO earlier this week said it had started sending masks, gloves, respirators, protective isolation gowns and test kits to countries requiring assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least 34,000 have now been infected by the virus, which has killed more than 720 people.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO&#8217;s Emerging Diseases unit, said that overall around 82 per cent of cases were considered mild, 15 per cent severe and 3 per cent &#8220;critical&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Less than 2&nbsp;per cent of the reported cases have died,&#8221; she said, adding that those who have died tended to be older and have underlying medical conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tedros also said that some countries were still failing to share clinical data on confirmed cases of the virus and urged them to do so &#8220;immediately&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We have a common enemy which is dangerous and which can bring serious upheaval, social, political and economic. This is the time to fight it and in unison,&#8221; he said. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GENEVA, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The world is running out of masks and other protective equipment against the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization chief warned. &#8220;The world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE),&#8221; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO&#8217;s executive board in Geneva. WHO said prices for some items were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61258"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}