“I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies”, says @drtedros about origin of #covid19 at @WHO presser. Calls the origins mission "a very important scientific exercise in very difficult circumstances”.

"The expert team is working on a summary report which we hope will be published next week”, says @DrTedros.
“The full final report will be published in the coming weeks.”

“The number of reported cases of #COVID19 globally has declined for the 4th week in a row and the number of deaths also fell for the 2nd consecutive week” says @DrTedros. "This decline appears to be due to countries implementing public health measure more stringently."

Some people thought a vaccine could not be produced within a year but it happened, says @drtedros.
"Now, some people say that vaccinating, the world is not possible.
They are dead wrong."

"I'm inviting everyone to join me in a call to action to accelerate production and share technology, so we can produce enough vaccines for the world, and share them equitably”, says @DrTedros.
Quotes Mandela: "it always seems impossible until it's done. "

WHO held a global meeting this week "to advance our understanding of what is officially called post-COVID condition or long COVID”, says @drtedros. "This was the first in a series of meetings focused on working towards an agreed clinical description of the condition"

"This illness affects patients with both severe and mild #COVID19”, says @DrTedros. "Part of the challenge is that patients with long COVID can have a range of different symptoms that can be persistent or can come and go.” New case reporting form should help collect more data.