“After several weeks of decline, reported cases of COVID-19 is again increasing globally, especially in parts of Asia”, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus told journalists in Geneva.
Over the past week, the agency has seen an 8% increase in COVID-19 detected cases, with more than 11 million positive test results.
“These increases are happening despite the reduction in testing in some countries, which means that the cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” explains Tedros. , while warning that as cases rise, so does the number of deaths.
He added that further outbreaks and localized outbreaks are expected, especially in areas where transmission prevention measures have been lifted, but death rates in many countries ‘are so high’ unacceptable, especially in settings with low levels of immunization among susceptible populations.
“Each country is facing a different situation with different challenges, But the pandemic is not over yet‘, he repeated.
WHO / Nana Kofi Acquah
The World Health Organization is helping countries strengthen their testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Combination of factors
WHO’s Dr Maria Van Kerkhove explained that a combination of factors is driving the increase in cases worldwide, starting with a more contagious variant.
“We still have Omicron transmitting at very strong levels around the world. We have subseries of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2. BA.2 is easier to transmit and here it is the most transmissible variant we have seen of the SARS-COV2 virus to date,” she warned.
The COVID-19 Engineering Lead announced that in the past 30 days, of the more than 400,000 sequences sampled, 99.9% were Omicrons and 75% corresponded to the BA.2 variant.
“We did not see an increase in severity with BA.2. However, with a large number of cases, you’ll see an increase in hospitalizations and we’ve seen this from country to country,” emphasized Dr Van Kerkhove.
Another factor influencing the increase in numbers is the upgrading of social and public health measures.
Dr. Van Kerkhove warned: “Increasing the use of masks, increasing physical distance, lifting restrictions restricting the movement of people, this creates an opportunity for the virus to spread.”
This expert also pointed out that there is a large amount of misinformation that confuses people.
“The misinformation that Omicron is mild, the misinformation that the pandemic is over, the misinformation that this is the last variant we will have to deal with,” she explains.
IMF photo / Joaquin Sarmiento
People wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Medellín, Colombia.
The virus has not subsided yet
Meanwhile, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, clarified that the virus has not yet ‘settled down’ into a purely seasonal or predictable pattern.
“So the idea that ‘we’ve passed it’ in the Northern Hemisphere and now we have to wait until next winter, I think (for example) when we look at the rate of increase in the UK, we need to be extremely vigilant and cautious with this,” he said.
The expert added that the virus is still ‘very healthy’ and it moves easily amid weakened immunity and a vaccine that doesn’t work perfectly against the infection, The virus will likely continue to spread around the world.
“Sometimes it will be high in some parts, then move and higher again, it will move to another area where the immunity is weakening. The virus will detect the sensitive vesicles, and we will survive on those bags for months until another one opens.
“This is how the virus works. They establish themselves in one community and they quickly move to the next unprotected,” he explained, adding that experts have seen similar patterns with the polio virus.
“We fully understand that the world needs to move on and wants to keep growing from COVID-19 but this virus spreads very efficiently between people and if we don’t have the right interventions in place, the virus will have a chance to continue to spread, and the more widespread the virus, the more opportunity there is to change,” added Dr. Van Kerkhove.
© UNICEF / Vinay Panjwani
Healthcare workers put used COVID vaccine syringes in a container.
Vaccination and vigilance
Both doctor and WHO head, Tedros also spoke about the importance of vaccination, pointing out that the majority of deaths are still in the unvaccinated, the elderly and those with medical conditions. potential cause has not been fully vaccinated with effective vaccines.
“We need to restore the importance of vaccination in every country. This is not just a North-South issue. Each country needs to review vaccination coverage of the most vulnerable, with or without a booster policy, and ensure that, at a minimum, each vulnerable individual gets two doses. effective vaccines”, Dr. Ryan recommends.
Dr Van Kerkhove explained that the data shows that the COVID-19 vaccine remains ‘extremely effective’ for preventing severe illness and death, including against Omicron.
She added that the world also needs a very strong surveillance system for COVID-19 to know how the virus is evolving.
“Despite all the challenges we are facing, we still need to keep testing, we still need to maintain robust sequencing and make sure we have geographic representation of the sequences.” shared,” she emphasized.
