Omicron, WHO: “Peak in some countries, but the end is far away”

In some countries the peak of the Omicron variant has been reached, but “no country is out of danger yet” and it is not the time to “give up and wave the white flag”. This was stated by the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying that the pandemic is “in no way near the end”. And warned of the risk that other variants may emerge. “Omicron continues to rage around the world, last week there were 18 million cases – he added in a press briefing – the number of deaths remains stable for the moment, but be concerned about the impact Omicron is having on the already exhausted medical personnel and overburdened health systems “. “In some countries the peak has been reached – he said – which gives hope that the worst of this latest wave has passed, but no country is out of danger. I am particularly concerned about the fact that many countries have rates of low vaccination, with people being much more at risk of serious illness. ” “Let’s not get confused: Omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths and even less severe cases are clogging health systems.” “Omicron may be less severe on average, but the narrative that it is a milder disease is misleading, harms the overall response, and costs more. lives “.” The virus is circulating too intensely with many still vulnerable – he said – for many countries the next few weeks will be truly crucial for workers and health systems. I ask everyone to do their best to reduce the risk of infection in so that you can help ease the pressure on systems “. At the same time he insisted on the need to do more for vaccination globally:” In the face of Omicron, it is increasingly important to vaccinate the unvaccinated – concludes Tedros – vaccines may be less effective in preventing Omicron infection and transmission than the other variants, but are still exceptionally good for preventing serious illness and death. And”.