More cases in past 2 weeks than 1st 6 months of pandemic: WHO
There have been more COVID-19 cases reported globally in the past two weeks than during the first six months of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
Almost exactly a year ago, there were fewer than 100 confirmed cases of the virus outside of China, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted during a media briefing Friday. This week, the number of reported cases globally surpassed 100 million.
"Now, vaccines are giving us another window of opportunity to bring the pandemic under control. We must not squander it," Tedros said.
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At the same time, Tedros warned that vaccine hoarding will be a "catastrophic moral failing" that will ultimately "keep the pandemic burning" and hinder economic recovery.
His comments come after the European Union publicly fought with AstraZeneca this week over how many doses it can expect of the drugmaker's COVID-19 vaccine. After regulators approved the vaccine Friday, the EU enacted an export restriction on doses produced in the bloc. WHO officials called the move "concerning" and part of a "worrying trend."
"Vaccine nationalism might serve short-term political goals, but it's ultimately short-sighted and self-defeating. We will not end the pandemic anywhere until we end it everywhere," Tedros said. "My message to governments is to vaccinate your health workers and older people, and share excess doses with COVAX, so other countries can do the same."
ABC News' Kirit Radia contributed to this report.