United Nations, USA: After two years the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and could be prolonged further due to “scandalously unequal” vaccine distribution, the UN secretary-general warned Wednesday.
“The pandemic’s most tragic toll has been on the health and lives of millions, with more than 446 million cases worldwide, more than six million deaths confirmed, and countless more grappling with worsening mental health,” said UN chief Antonio Guterres in a statement marking the second anniversary of the global crisis.
“Thanks to unprecedented public health measures, and the extraordinarily rapid development and deployment of vaccines, many parts of the world are bringing the pandemic under control,” he said.
“But it would be a grave mistake to think the pandemic is over.”
Guterres noted that the “distribution of vaccines remains scandalously unequal,” and that while 1.5 billion doses of vaccine are produced each month, “nearly three billion people are still waiting for their first shot.”
“This failure is the direct result of policy and budgetary decisions that prioritize the health of people in wealthy countries over the health of people in poor countries,” said Guterres.
He added that the two-tiered recovery is “a recipe for more variants, more lockdowns and more sorrow and sacrifice in every country.”
The statement concluded by calling on the whole world to “re-dedicate ourselves to ending this pandemic... and closing this sad chapter in humanity’s history, once and for all.”
UN chief warns pandemic not over, decries vaccine inequality
https://arab.news/6a8e6
UN chief warns pandemic not over, decries vaccine inequality
- He added that the two-tiered recovery is “a recipe for more variants, more lockdowns and more sorrow and sacrifice in every country”
Hundreds of thousands of Catholics join Black Nazarene procession in Manila
- Around 80 percent of Philippines’ 110 million population are Roman Catholics
- The annual 6km procession began at 4 a.m. on Friday
MANILA: Hundreds of thousands of Catholics took part in a barefoot procession in Manila on Friday, carrying the Black Nazarene, a centuries-old ebony statue of Jesus Christ believed by devotees to have miraculous powers.
Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ 110 million population identify as Roman Catholic, a legacy of more than 300 years of Spanish colonization.
After a midnight mass joined by tens of thousands of worshippers, the procession began at the Quirino Grandstand at 4 a.m., with the statue of Jesus placed on a cross carried by a four-wheel carriage, which then slowly traveled through Manila’s roads, thronged by massive crowds, for around 6 kilometers.
The procession — which is known as the Traslacion (“transfer”) or as the Feast of the Black Nazarene — commemorates the 1787 relocation of the Black Nazarene from a church inside the colonial Spanish capital of Intramuros in Manila’s center to its present location in Quiapo Church.
For many Filipino Catholics, the annual procession and the festivities surrounding it are deeply personal — a way of expressing deep faith and spiritual devotion, and conveying their personal prayers.
“As early as Jan. 8, you will already see a long queue of devotees near the Quirino Grandstand. Many of them are there to get the chance to wipe a towel on the image of the Nazarene. That’s their devotion,” Jomel Bermudez told Arab News.
Many devotees believe the statue is miraculous, and that touching it, or the ropes attached to its float, can heal illness or help provide good health, jobs and a better life. This belief is partly because the statue has survived multiple earthquakes, fires, floods, and even the bombing of Manila in the Second World War.
“We wipe (the towels) on our bodies, especially on sick people,” Bermudez continued. “My father, for example, was diagnosed with leukemia and now he is already recovered. He was one of my prayers last year. He is 56, and he survived.”
On Friday, many devotees were clad in maroon and yellow as they flooded the streets to swarm the statue, jostling for a chance to pull its thick rope.
Bermudez, who first participated in the procession in 2014, said he was inspired to do so by seeing the effect it had had on friends who had taken part.
“I saw friends whose lives really changed. That encouraged me to change too,” he said, adding that this year he is one of a group on the sidelines helping to keep the procession moving.
“My prayers before were already answered. This time, I’m praying for my children’s success in life,” he said.
Jersey Banez, a 23-year-old devotee, was among those who arrived as early as 2 a.m. to take part in the procession.
“I do this every year. I’m just grateful for a happy life,” he told Arab News. “My prayer is still the same: to have a happy family and a happy life, and that everyone and everything that needs to change will change.”
