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WHO regional director says COVID-19 threat far from over, despite vaccine progress

In a lengthy interview with Al-Monitor, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed al-Mandhari warns the coronavirus "remains a cause for concern," as he discussed his organization’s efforts to help the countries of the region cope with the pandemic.
Ahmed al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, speaks during a press briefing at the World Health Organisation's regional office in the Egyptian capital Cairo on February 19, 2020, following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus. - The World Health Organization said it was making "tremendous progress" in the fight against the global COV-19 disease confirming that Africa still has only one case.
The death toll from the virus jumped past 2,000 on February 19, while 74,185 cases of in

CAIRO — Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed al-Mandhari warned that the coronavirus pandemic continues to be a cause for concern, as cases in the eastern Mediterranean region, which includes 22 countries, have topped 3 million, with 78,000 deaths as of early November. 

In a Nov. 1 interview with Al-Monitor via WhatsApp, Mandhari said that there are currently around 200 coronavirus vaccine candidates under development, 40 of which have reached the human clinical evaluation stage, and a large number of vaccines are in phase three trials. He noted that several countries in the eastern Mediterranean region are participating in the third phase of vaccine trials. 

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