The corona pandemic “is far from over”, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned today.
The omikron variant is believed to be benign, but the virus “continues to flood the world. (…) Don’t be fooled, omikron also causes hospitalizations and deaths, and even the mildest cases can overload health facilities,” he told a news conference . Although some countries seem to have peaked and the impression is that the worst of the latest wave is over, no country is completely out of the danger zone, according to the WHO boss. The situation will remain “critical” for health workers and systems in many countries in the coming weeks, Tedros said. He also considers it likely that other variants will emerge. The WHO chief is also concerned about the low vaccination coverage in certain countries. “People are more likely to suffer from severe forms of the disease or die if they are not vaccinated.” “Omikron may be less severe overall, but the story that it is a mild disease is misleading. It undermines the global response and costs more lives,” Tedros concluded. The vaccine alliance Gavi, for its part, estimates that the international vaccination program for poor countries, Covax, will probably be able to deliver its two billionth dose over the next five months. A few days ago, it was announced that the billionth dose of the corona vaccine had been delivered as part of the Covax program. (Belgium)
The omikron variant is believed to be benign, but the virus “continues to flood the world. (…) Don’t be fooled, omikron also causes hospitalizations and deaths, and even the mildest cases can overload health facilities,” he told a news conference . Although some countries seem to have peaked and the impression is that the worst of the latest wave is over, no country is completely out of the danger zone, according to the WHO boss. The situation will remain “critical” for health workers and systems in many countries in the coming weeks, Tedros said. He also considers it likely that other variants will emerge. The WHO chief is also concerned about the low vaccination coverage in certain countries. “People are more likely to suffer from severe forms of the disease or die if they are not vaccinated.” “Omikron may be less severe overall, but the story that it is a mild disease is misleading. It undermines the global response and costs more lives,” Tedros concluded. The vaccine alliance Gavi, for its part, estimates that the international vaccination program for poor countries, Covax, will probably be able to deliver its two billionth dose over the next five months. A few days ago, it was announced that the billionth dose of the corona vaccine had been delivered as part of the Covax program. (Belgium)
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