OREANDA-NEWS. The coronavirus pandemic has gone beyond the usual health emergency, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on November 9 in a speech at the 73rd World Health Assembly that resumed in Geneva after a six-month pause.

He also noted that the wide spread of COVID-19 negatively affects the fight against other diseases in the world: yellow fever in Gabon and Togo, chikungunya fever in Chad, measles in Mexico.

Referring to the development of coronavirus vaccines, Adhanom Ghebreyesus argued that such a vaccine should be seen as a global public good, not a private commodity.

WHO chief warned that the current crisis will not be the last, and called on states to show unity in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, overcome the geopolitical split, as well as inequalities in the healthcare sector. We will be able to realize the potential of these goals only if the international community urgently recalls common responsibility, Adhanom Ghebreyesus resumed.