COVID-19: WHO says govt decisions in coming days will be 'decisive' amid 1st breakthrough

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said that the decisions made by the governments and individuals in the coming days would be 'decisive'. Tedros said that the decisions made by the leaders and citizens in the coming days will determine both the course of the virus in the short-term and also the future possibility. This came after, the UK on Wednesday became the first country to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday. 

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WHO Chief said, "We know it has been a hard year and people are tired. ... My personal asks to people is simple: please be careful, think of health workers and act for the greater good, because it will save lives and livelihoods."

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WHO: 'All Covid patients develop immune response'

WHO's epidemiology expert Maria Van Kerkhove while addressing a press conference on  Friday said that almost 100 per cent of Coronavirus patients develop antibodies no matter the course of the disease. Speaking further, Kerkhove said, 'What we understand is 90 to 100 per cent of people who are infected with the virus do develop an antibody response, whether you have mild infection or asymptomatic infection all the way to severe infection.' The epidemiology expert informed that WHO is still learning how long COVID-19 antibody lasts, how strong it is, how it relates to immunity from another infection and how long that lasts. 

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As the world continues to battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of positive cases recorded so far is 6,56,86,172. Out of these cases, 15,14,549 have succumbed to the infection. Currently, the worst-hit country by the pandemic is the United States with 1,42,17,106 cases. 

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(With ANI inputs)