WHO Reports 90% Decrease of Coronavirus Incidence, Mortality Worldwide

According to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "the world needs a more effective mechanism for sharing licenses in an emergency"

GENEVA, June 14. /TASS/. Reported coronavirus cases and fatalities caused by this disease have dropped more than 90% from their peaks earlier this year, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, noting that this was a welcome trend but the number of deaths reported over the past week (8,737) cannot be deemed "acceptable" since the global community now has the instruments to fight the pandemic.

"The global decline in reported COVID-19 cases and deaths is continuing," the official said, noting that they have fallen "more than 90% from their peaks earlier this year."

"This is a very welcome trend. Still, more than 3 million cases were reported to WHO last week," he continued noting that due to reduced surveillance and testing in some countries, this number is underreported.

According to the director general, "the world needs a more effective mechanism for sharing licenses in an emergency." He expressed hope that the 12th World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference held in Geneva this week will reach an agreement on "a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 tools" in order to expand their global production.

As of June 13, since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, 532,887,531 people have been infected worldwide and 6,307,021 deaths have been reported.