WHO chief warns: corona pandemic is far from over

The idea is that the omikron variant is benign, but the virus “continues to engulf the world. (…) Don’t be fooled, omikron also causes hospitalizations and deaths, and even the mildest cases can overload health facilities,” he said at 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 generally less severe, but the story that it is a mild disease is misleading. It undermines the global response and costs more lives,” concluded Tedros.

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.

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