World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that the Kovid-19 pandemic is not over yet. “This pandemic is not over,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a report.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also raised concerns over low vaccination rates in some countries and cautioned against a narrative that the rapidly spreading Omicron variant is risk-free.
,Omicron continues around the world. I care about countries With low vaccination rates, because unvaccinated people are at manifold higher risk of serious illness and death,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.
Omicron continues to sweep. I worry about countries with low vaccination rates, because those without vaccinations are at manifold risk of serious illness and death. I urge everyone to do everything possible to help reduce the risk of infection and take the pressure off health systems. pic.twitter.com/CymL7Vxvel
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) 18 January 2022
“I urge everyone to help reduce the risk of infection and take the pressure off health systems,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
‘Omicron infection not mild’
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also warned against it Mildly ruled out infection due to the new variant Omicron.
The Omicron version of the coronavirus has spread like wildfire around the world since it was first detected in southern Africa in November. This new type is much more contagious than previous strains but appears to cause less severe disease.
Amid a rapid rise in cases of omicrons around the world, the WHO warned that the sheer number of infected people would mean many people were still falling seriously ill and dying.
“Omicron may be less severe on average, but the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading,” Tedros said.
“Make no mistake: Omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths, and even less severe cases are affecting healthcare facilities,” Tedros was quoted as saying.
‘No time to give up’
Tedros said there are signs that there may be an Omicron-fueled surge in Covid cases in some countries. “Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag,” he said.
Tedros said there is an urgent need to remove the pressure build-up on health systems, especially in countries that still have low vaccination coverage.
“We can still significantly reduce the impact of the current wave by effectively sharing and using health equipment and by implementing public health and social measures,” Tedros said.
45,000 weekly covid deaths
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical head on Kovid, said that about 45,000 deaths from the disease are still being recorded every week around the world.
“It shouldn’t happen, because we have the equipment,” she told reporters.
The data indicate that current COVID vaccines are less effective in protecting against omicron transmission than previous strains.
Some pharmaceutical companies are in the process of creating vaccines that better target the variant, but the WHO said that is not necessarily a way out of the crisis.
A better approach, therefore, she said, may be to try to develop so-called “multicombinant vaccines or, ideally, a pan-coronavirus vaccine.”
Meanwhile, the WHO stressed that existing vaccines still do a good job of protecting against the development of severe COVID disease, reiterating the importance of ensuring wider, more equitable access.
(with inputs from AFP)