Maria Van Kerkhove urged world governments to act against the pandemic and the new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
MEXICO; (December 15, 2021).- “The world is facing a tsunami of COVID-19 infections caused by both the Delta and Omicron variants”, said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We are facing a tsunami of infections around the world, both from Delta and Omicron. I repeat it to governments: do not wait to act. And I don’t mean confinements. Before you start to see an increase in hospitalizations, please wear masks, facilitate teleworking and home office, limit contacts with other people, avoid meetings, invest in ventilation, increase surveillance of virus genomes and have your hospitals prepared ” Said Van Kerkhove.
The declaration of Maria Van Kerkhove occurs amid global uncertainty accentuated by the variant ómicron.
So far there is a record that omicron has a presence in 63 countries, according to the WHO.
The body has noted that this variant appears to spread more than delta, with milder symptoms.
In addition, it has specified that its presence is not exclusive to South Africa, where Delta is less strong, but also in the United Kingdom.
According to Maria Van Kerkhove, “ now is the time to act against the Delta variant as well, because it is wreaking havoc. Even in Europe, which has high levels of vaccination, there are still large pockets of vulnerable people who have not been vaccinated or do not have the full schedule. And in the rest of the world, there is a huge amount. And that is the big problem, whatever variant it is. It is expected that omicron manages to escape the immune response to some extent, but that does not mean that vaccines will be useless ”.
The situation due to COVID-19 in the world is still critical
Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, has noted that three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are “optimal care, “ but two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna immunizations or one of the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. Johnson & Johnson remains the official government standard for being fully vaccinated.
While in Europe, health officials in the United Kingdom raised the alert level for COVID -19, due to the “rapid increase” in cases of the omicron variant.
The level went from three to four, which indicates that “the contagion is high and that the pressure on health services is generalized, significant and increasing.”
Source: El Financiero
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