WHO Says COVID-19 Pandemic is 'One Big Wave', Not Seasonal

A health worker carries out a coronavirus test on a child at a makeshift testing center in Dalian, in China's northeast Liaoning province on July 27, 2020. (AFP)
A health worker carries out a coronavirus test on a child at a makeshift testing center in Dalian, in China's northeast Liaoning province on July 27, 2020. (AFP)
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WHO Says COVID-19 Pandemic is 'One Big Wave', Not Seasonal

A health worker carries out a coronavirus test on a child at a makeshift testing center in Dalian, in China's northeast Liaoning province on July 27, 2020. (AFP)
A health worker carries out a coronavirus test on a child at a makeshift testing center in Dalian, in China's northeast Liaoning province on July 27, 2020. (AFP)

A World Health Organization official on Tuesday described the COVID-19 pandemic as “one big wave” and warned against complacency in the northern hemisphere summer since the infection does not share influenza’s tendency to follow seasons.

WHO officials have been at pains to avoid describing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases like those in Hong Kong as “waves” as this suggests the virus is behaving in ways beyond human control, when in fact concerted action can slow its spread.

Margaret Harris repeated that message in a virtual briefing in Geneva. “We are in the first wave. It’s going to be one big wave. It’s going to go up and down a bit. The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet,” she said.

Pointing to high case numbers at the height of the US summer, she urged vigilance in applying measures and warned against mass gatherings.

“People are still thinking about seasons. What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and... this one is behaving differently,” she said.

“Summer is a problem. This virus likes all weather.”

However, she expressed concern about COVID-19 cases coinciding with normal seasonal influenza cases during the southern hemisphere’s winter, and said the Geneva-based body was monitoring this closely.

So far, she said, laboratory samples are not showing high numbers of flu cases, suggesting a later-than-normal start to the season.

“If you have an increase in a respiratory illness when you already have a very high burden of respiratory illness, that puts even more pressure on the health system,” she said, urging people to be vaccinated against flu.



Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
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Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)

Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.

The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, amongst others, the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention set up in the wake of the Holocaust.

"Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid" and "is using Dutch weapons to wage war", said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.

"Dutch weapons are killing children, every day, in Palestine, including my family," said Ahmed Abofoul, a legal advisor to Al Haq, one of the groups involved in the suit, AFP reported.

Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses on with the offensive in Gaza it began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Opening the case at the court in The Hague, judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: "It is important to underline that the gravity of the situation in Gaza is not contested by the Dutch State, nor is the status of the West Bank."

"Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the State, if the State can be expected to do more, or act differently than it is currently acting," she added.

She acknowledged this was a "sensitive case", saying: "It's a whole legal debate."

The lawyer for the Dutch State, Reimer Veldhuis, said the Netherlands has been applying European laws in force for arms exports.

Veldhuis argued the case should be tossed out.

"It is unlikely that the minister responsible will grant an arms export licence to Israel that would contribute to the Israeli army's activities in Gaza or the West Bank," said Veldhuis.