Medical staff treat COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Riga, Latvia. Photo: THX/VNA The report also highlights the importance of “overhauling” the global alarm system to prevent a similar disaster from happening again. Report “COVID-19: Making it the Last Pandemic” produced by the Independent Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) at the request of World Health Organization member countries. world (WHO). As policymakers make a series of ineffective decisions, the report says, adding to the scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the pandemic has killed at least 3.3 million people so far, while the global economy has been devastated. According to the IPPR, institutions “failed to protect the people” while leaders denying scientific data has eroded public confidence in health interventions. The lack of urgency in the early response to the COVID-19 outbreak detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 led to unfortunate consequences, when February 2020 became the “lost month”. cool” seriously in the context that the alarm situation has not been paid enough attention by countries. IPPR also said that WHO could have declared a global public health emergency (PHEIC), the highest alert level, on January 22, 2020. Instead, it took the organization eight days to do this. Then, only in March 2020 after WHO recognized COVID-19 as a pandemic, did countries realize the danger of the situation and really “get involved”. Ineffective strategic choices, unwillingness to address inequality issues, and “disparity” in coordination within a country or between countries have created a “toxic formula” that creates favorable conditions. for the COVID-19 pandemic to turn into “a catastrophic human crisis”. The threat of a pandemic has been ignored and countries are struggling to deal with its consequences. In order to reverse the current pandemic, IPPR recommends that the world’s richest countries from now until September 1 share 1 billion doses of vaccine to the 92 poorest countries through a mechanism of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines called COVID-19 vaccine. WHO-initiated COVAX and more than 2 billion doses of vaccine by mid-2022. IPPR calls on the world’s leading industrialized countries (G7) to pay 60% of the $19 billion needed to fund vaccine development, development diagnostic and therapeutic approaches through the WHO-led “Accelerated Access to COVID-19 Response Tools” global collaboration to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics to countries poorer. Health workers give people a COVID-19 vaccine in Essen, Germany. Photo: THX/VNA According to the committee, the group of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) and others need to support the rest. The WHO and the World Trade Organization (WTO) themselves also need to encourage countries and vaccine manufacturers to voluntarily agree to license and transfer technology to produce vaccines against COVID-19. To address future outbreaks and pandemics, the IPPR calls for the creation of a Global Health Threat Response Council made up of world leaders, as well as a convention on pandemics. Translate. The G20 should also set up an international pandemic response financing mechanism, whereby $5-10 billion can be spent per year on ensuring epidemic preparedness capacity, as well as ensuring readiness to mobilize $50 billion to $100 billion in the event of a crisis. Speaking at the event to announce the report, WHO Director-General Tedros Gebreyesus said the organization will join 194 members to discuss the above recommendations as well as the opinions of other expert groups, aiming to “construct” Stronger WHO, for a healthier, safer and fairer future for all of us.”

Dream of the sky The daughter of a tsarist general, Lydia Zvereva was obsessed with planes from an early age. She read a lot of books about aviation, took complex mechanical toys to pieces, and talked for hours about hot air balloons and airplanes. She even performed “test flights” by jumping from the roof of the storage shed to the ground. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was very interested in the hot air balloons at Osowiec Fortress, so I built models. At that time in Russia no one could fly, and in the press only occasionally began to appear the first information about the achievements of foreign manufacturers,” recalls Lidya Zvereva. Russia’s first female pilot Lydia Zvereva on the plane “Farman-4”. Photo: Karl Bulla/russiainphoto.ru What worries Lydia is certainly not that the early twentieth century aviation industry is still in its infancy, but that flights are very dangerous to life. Flimsy, unreliable planes are prone to capsizing and breaking the wind, claiming the lives of dozens of pilots around the world every year. However, Lydia Zvereva enrolled in the private aviation school “Gamayun” near Saint Petersburg. The local newspaper wrote about the first woman who wanted to learn to be a pilot, calling her “Miss Z” because she wanted to respect her private life. “Lydia Zvereva flew without hesitation and very decisively. I remember everyone paying attention to her masterful flights, including the very high ones. Because at that time, not everyone dared to take the risk of flying to such a high altitude,” said her classmate Konstantin Artseulov. There were a few times when Lydia Zvereva had a serious accident, but always luckily only minor scratches. On August 23, 1911, after passing all the necessary exams, the 21-year-old “Miss Z” was granted a pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of the Russian Empire. Talented Aircraft Builder In 1912, Lydia Zvereva, along with her husband, pilot Vladimir Slyusarenko, practiced aerobatics. They attended Aviation Week in Baku, performed in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), where female pilots performed flights in difficult weather conditions. The trip to Riga almost became Lydia Zvereva’s last. While flying, the wind started to pick up and threw her “Farman” plane into the stands. She tried to fly up, but she was thrown into the stronger wind, and her plane was eventually overturned. When she fell to the ground, the female pilot was thrown forward and was crushed by aircraft debris. Not long after, in one of her letters, she wrote: “When the plane went down, I almost broke my leg. It still hurts to this day. My lung condition is very bad. The doctor told me not to go anymore, but I still wanted to fly. They warn, if you do not obey, you will get tuberculosis. Indeed, that is the fate of the pilot profession!”. Lydia Zvereva with the first Russian-made aircraft “Kudashev-1”. Documentary photo Despite the accident, perhaps thanks to that, Lydia’s performances were so successful. She and her husband were invited to stay in Riga and they happily accepted. This large city on the Baltic coast was at that time the center of the Russian aviation industry. Here they built the first aircraft engines in the country. In 1913, she and her husband opened their pilot school in Riga with the lowest tuition fees in the country. In addition, they also organized aircraft repair and design classes, at which time Lydia Zvereva was an aircraft builder who upgraded aircraft manufactured in Western countries. This particular woman was invited to work in Austria-Hungary, but she decided to stay in her homeland. Female pilot with no number Teaching and crafting did not make Lydia Zvereva more cautious. This first Russian female pilot is still actively flying as before, even though it is very dangerous to her life. She even had the courage to participate in the “death” twist when sitting on the plane. That flight took place on May 19, 1914 in a monoplane “Moran” piloted by experienced male pilot Evgeny Shpitsberg. The newspaper “Riga Messenger” wrote: “The “Moran” quickly soared into the air. 500, 600 then 700 meters. At an altitude of 800 meters, the plane suddenly stopped in the air and then dived. Almost simultaneously, the spectators gathered below all fled. But after a few seconds, there was a rumble of the engine, the plane soared high and then took a sharp turn. The crowd held their breath with applause. After a while, the plane flew along a beautiful spiral and then landed in the grandstand area. “Hooray! Hooray!” – everyone chanted.” Lydia Zvereva’s admirer is the male pilot Pyotr Nesterov, the first person in the world to perform this complex flight. At the outbreak of World War I, the couple’s pilot school was evacuated to the city of Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). In fact, this school has become a manufacturing workshop, where 300 employees carry out orders from the Ministry of Defense. Fate did not allow Lydia Zvereva to live until the end of World War I. Many times she escaped death while flying, but she died of typhoid on June 16, 1916 at the age of 26. The female pilot’s friends and students saw her off to her final resting place by flying around in “Farmans” over Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Petrograd.

Three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have expelled a total of four Russian diplomats to show solidarity with the Czech Republic (Czech) in diplomatic retaliation for alleged Russian secret involvement. ammunition warehouse explosions in Czech, news agency AFP said. On April 17, the Czech Republic accused the Russian Secret Service of being behind a fatal explosion at an arsenal in eastern Czechs in 2014 and thus expelled 18 Russian diplomats. This decision led to a series of “reciprocal” responses between Prague and Moscow. The Czech Republic has called on allies in the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Bloc (NATO) to unite and support the decision of the Prague government. On April 23, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis announced his decision to expel two staff of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius for “behavior inconsistent with diplomatic status” and ordered them to leave Lithuania within seven days. Russian Embassy in Riga (Latvia). Photo: TASS The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry stressed that “this decision shows our solidarity (ie the Vilnius government) with our ally after an unprecedented and dangerous incident in the Czech Republic”. Lithuania also offered to support the Czech Embassy in Moscow in carrying out its functions after Czech diplomats were expelled by Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that by May 31st, the Russian Embassy in Prague and the Czech Embassy in Moscow will only maintain 7 diplomatic staff, 25 technical and administrative staff, as well as right to hire up to 19 employees who are nationals of the host country. Thus, the number of Czech diplomats in Moscow must be reduced by 16, while the number of Russian diplomats in Prague is only one-sixth of the current number. On the same day 23-4, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics announced the expulsion of a staff member of the Russian Embassy in Riga. The Latvian Foreign Ministry explained that this was a move to show “solidarity with the Czech”, based on “information provided by Latvian authorities” and was made after consulting with allies. EU and NATO. And the Estonian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat who the Tallinn government said was behaving inconsistent with diplomatic principles. Estonia emphasized that it was “an expression of solidarity with the Czechs” and criticized the actions of the Russian secret service as the Czech accused it of being “unacceptable”. In response to the decision of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, the Russian Embassy in Riga said that this “unfriendly action” would “have the most negative impact on the development of Russian-Latvian relations”. The Russian diplomatic delegation also announced that Moscow would soon take measures to respond, according to the news agency TASS . The Russian embassy in Tallinn was also dissatisfied by Estonia’s decision, saying that the decision to expel Russian diplomats could undermine efforts to improve Russia-Estonian relations. The Russian diplomatic delegation to Lithuania does not appear to have commented on the decision of the Vilnius government yet. Before the three Baltic countries, Slovakia expelled three members of the Russian Embassy in Bratislava to show solidarity with its neighbor Czech.