Geneva: World Health Organization The chief said on Tuesday that 90 million cases of coronavirus have been reported so far omicron The variant was first identified 10 weeks ago – which is more than in all of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many countries have eased their restrictive measures amid public fatigue, WHO director general Tedros Adnan Ghebreyesus cautioned that Omicron should not be underestimated, even though it brings less severe disease than earlier forms – and cited “a very worrying increase in deaths in most areas of the world”.
“We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines – and because of the high transmissibility and low severity of Omicron – preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary,” he said in a regular on the pandemic. Told at WHO briefing.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Tedros said. “It is too early for any country to either surrender or declare victory. This virus is dangerous and it continues to evolve before our eyes.” The WHO said that there is an increasing trend of deaths in four of its six regions around the world.
Several European countries, including Britain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, have started easing lockdown measures. Finland will end its COVID-19 restrictions this month.
On Tuesday, Denmark’s government lifted most restrictions aimed at fighting the pandemic, saying it no longer considered Covid-19 a “socially serious disease”.
The country of 5.8 million has seen more than 50,000 new cases a day in recent weeks, but the number of patients in intensive care units has declined.
“Now is not the time to lift everything together. We have always urged – always urged – caution in implementing interventions as well as taking those interventions in a steady and slow manner,” Maria said. van kerkhoveWHO’s technical lead on COVID-19.
WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan said countries with high vaccination rates have “more options” about easing their restrictions, but added that they need to know about their current epidemiology, at-risk populations, immunity in populations and Factors such as accessibility should be assessed. For health care equipment to fight the pandemic.
Speaking to the governments of the countries, he said: “Every country has to find a foot, know where it is, know where it wants to go, and chart its way… What countries are doing. But please don’t blindly follow what every other country is doing.”
Ryan expressed concern that “political pressure will result in people opening prematurely in some countries – and will result in unnecessary transmission, unnecessary serious illness, and unnecessary death.”
Meanwhile, Van Kerkhove also said that a group of experts that was set up last year to look at the emergence of new pathogens like the coronavirus – and to assess its origins – will release a report “in the coming weeks”. expected to do.
She said the group, known as SAGO, has held about half a dozen meetings since its first meeting in late November.
She said the group would build on, among other things, preliminary epidemiological studies and “our current understanding of the origins of this particular epidemic, on previous missions that have been to China and worked with Chinese scientists”.
She pointed to the work of another WHO-led team that traveled to China, where the pandemic first emerged, and reported the outbreak in March last year.
Many countries have eased their restrictive measures amid public fatigue, WHO director general Tedros Adnan Ghebreyesus cautioned that Omicron should not be underestimated, even though it brings less severe disease than earlier forms – and cited “a very worrying increase in deaths in most areas of the world”.
“We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines – and because of the high transmissibility and low severity of Omicron – preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary,” he said in a regular on the pandemic. Told at WHO briefing.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Tedros said. “It is too early for any country to either surrender or declare victory. This virus is dangerous and it continues to evolve before our eyes.” The WHO said that there is an increasing trend of deaths in four of its six regions around the world.
Several European countries, including Britain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, have started easing lockdown measures. Finland will end its COVID-19 restrictions this month.
On Tuesday, Denmark’s government lifted most restrictions aimed at fighting the pandemic, saying it no longer considered Covid-19 a “socially serious disease”.
The country of 5.8 million has seen more than 50,000 new cases a day in recent weeks, but the number of patients in intensive care units has declined.
“Now is not the time to lift everything together. We have always urged – always urged – caution in implementing interventions as well as taking those interventions in a steady and slow manner,” Maria said. van kerkhoveWHO’s technical lead on COVID-19.
WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan said countries with high vaccination rates have “more options” about easing their restrictions, but added that they need to know about their current epidemiology, at-risk populations, immunity in populations and Factors such as accessibility should be assessed. For health care equipment to fight the pandemic.
Speaking to the governments of the countries, he said: “Every country has to find a foot, know where it is, know where it wants to go, and chart its way… What countries are doing. But please don’t blindly follow what every other country is doing.”
Ryan expressed concern that “political pressure will result in people opening prematurely in some countries – and will result in unnecessary transmission, unnecessary serious illness, and unnecessary death.”
Meanwhile, Van Kerkhove also said that a group of experts that was set up last year to look at the emergence of new pathogens like the coronavirus – and to assess its origins – will release a report “in the coming weeks”. expected to do.
She said the group, known as SAGO, has held about half a dozen meetings since its first meeting in late November.
She said the group would build on, among other things, preliminary epidemiological studies and “our current understanding of the origins of this particular epidemic, on previous missions that have been to China and worked with Chinese scientists”.
She pointed to the work of another WHO-led team that traveled to China, where the pandemic first emerged, and reported the outbreak in March last year.
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