“It is premature for any country to surrender or declare victory,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference, worried about rising deaths in most parts of the world. His call for caution comes as some countries consider returning to life before.
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that it was too early for countries to claim victory over Covid-19 or abandon their attempts to stem transmission of the virus. “It is premature for any country to surrender or declare victory,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference, worried about rising deaths in most parts of the world. His call for caution comes as some countries consider returning to life before. Denmark even took this step on Tuesday, despite a record level of Covid-19 cases, considering itself able to do so thanks to its high vaccination coverage and the lesser severity of the Omicron variant.
90 million Omicron cases reported to WHO
“More transmission means more deaths,” said Dr Tedros. Since the Omicron variant was first identified just 10 weeks ago, nearly 90 million cases have been reported to the WHO. “We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that due to vaccines and Omicron’s high transmissibility, and lesser severity, preventing transmission would no longer be possible. Nothing This couldn’t be further from the truth,” said the WHO chief. For Dr. Tedros, “this virus is dangerous”.
A call to be careful
A message that he has not stopped repeating since the appearance of the Omicron variant. “We are not asking any country to reinstate lockdowns. But we are calling on all countries to protect their people using all available tools, not just vaccines,” he said.
Saying the virus will continue to evolve, he called on countries to continue testing, monitoring the virus and sequencing it: “We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing.” He also felt that if the virus continues to evolve, “vaccines may need to evolve as well.”