Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that COVID-19 had not changed, either in its transmissibility or in its severity, and that more efforts were needed to stop its transmission and save lives.
In response to a question regarding some doctors’ suggestion that the new coronavirus is weakening, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, technical manager of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said it was not true.
Van Kerkhove explained at a press conference in Geneva that two major characteristics had been used to measure the virus from the start: its transmissibility and its severity. The first means “the number of patients who can be infected by a single case” or the “reproduction number”, which is naturally greater than two. The second is the extent to which a virus can cause various diseases, and in the case of COVID-19, “20% of people will have a serious disease”.
“So nothing has changed, neither in terms of transmissibility, nor in terms of gravity,” said Dr. Van Kerkhove.
Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, agreed with his colleague and added: “It is still a deadly virus and thousands of people die from it every day. We must therefore exercise exceptional caution, so as not to give the impression that the virus suddenly decided, on its own, to be less pathogenic. This is not at all the case. “
“We may be able, as a community and as a planet, to reduce the intensity and frequency of exposure to this virus, which at first glance appears to be lower, but it may be that this weakness is because we are doing better, not because the virus itself is getting weaker, “he said.
However, Van Kerkhove stressed that “there are things we can do to eliminate transmission and save lives”.
“There are measures we can put in place to reduce transmission or to eliminate it, and that involves finding, testing, isolating, treating all cases, tracing and quarantining all contacts, ensuring that we have mobilized and engaged the public, ensuring that we have a whole of society and government approach, “she said.
“And we know that early treatment and early identification, and even early oxygen if necessary, can save lives. So these are the things that I think can reduce the potency (as well as) the potency of this But if we let it escape, it will infect people and cause serious illness in around 20% of the population, “she added.
According to Dr. Ryan, the public must “not be negative about a message of hope, but at the same time, we must be realistic and let the facts guide us”, and “we cannot take this risk for the sake of ‘instant and we have to keep doing what we do’.
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