The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this Tuesday (1st) that it is “premature” to celebrate victory against Covid-19 and abandon the effort being made to stop the transmission of the virus.
“We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that, because of vaccines and the high transmission potential and low severity of omicrons, prevention of transmission is no longer possible and is no longer necessary. Nothing is further from the truth. Can’t happen,” warned the WHO director.
Tedros recalled that the virus would continue to evolve and that countries needed to be vigilant. “Keep testing, keep watching and keep sequencing. We cannot fight this virus if we don’t know what it is doing,” he said.
The WHO director highlighted that since Omicron was first identified 10 weeks ago, there have been nearly 90 million cases reported to the WHO, which is more than the whole of 2020. And that we are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths.
Adhanom warned, “More transmission means more deaths. We are not asking any country to return to lockdown, but we are asking countries to use all means to protect their people.” , not just vaccines.”
Countries Haven’t Reached O’Micron Peak
The WHO has also warned that the wave of infection with omicron variants is not yet at its peak in many countries.
Asked about Denmark’s decision to lift all restrictions to contain the spread, technical chief Maria van Kerkhove warned that many countries had not yet reached the peak of Omicron cases and suggested measures should be taken gradually. be reduced gradually.
Chief of Emergency Situations Mike Ryan said that as countries are at different stages of the pandemic, no one should blindly follow the other. He insisted that “if you open doors quickly, you have to be prepared to close them too quickly”.
