The World Health Organisation on Wednesday warned all the unvaccinated people against the new Omicron variant of the Covid-19.
WHO also went on to say that the reason behind the tremendous surge in global cases is the Omicron variant which is more transmissible than the Delta variant.
Last week, more than 15 million cases were reported to the organization.
However, the health agency also warned that there should be no surrender to the variant, dismissing the notion that it is an ending phase of the pandemic.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus told a press conference “While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated,”
He further stated, “We mustn’t allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated.”
Adding to that, the “overwhelming majority” of people admitted to hospitals are unvaccinated.
Vaccines have proven to be quite effective in preventing deaths of affected people, but it has been unable to control the rapid transmission, stated Tedros.
“More transmission means more hospitalizations, more deaths, more people off work including teachers and health workers and more risk of another variant emerging that is even more transmissible and more deadly.”
The WHO chief said that the number of deaths throughout the world has become stable at 50,000 per week.
He further said, “Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths,”.
The WHO chief previously directed all the nations to get 10% of their population to be vaccinated by September of 2021, 40% by the end of December, and 70% by the mid of this year (2022).
There are 90 countries who are trailing the 40% mark, with 36 countries still short of the 10% mark, states Tedros.
The WHO chief added, “In Africa, over 85 percent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine. We can’t end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap,”.
WHO’s frontman on accessing coronavirus tools Bruce Aylward said that the wealthier nations have spread more misinformation than vaccines for the dose-starved low-income nations.
The Omicron variant has been identified in 149 countries as of January 6.
People around the world are giving thought to the endemic part as the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 is more transmissible and less dangerous than that of other variants.
Michael Ryan, the WHO emergencies director said “This is not the time to declare this is a welcome virus.”
The WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 Maria Kerkhove said that it is difficult to predict the future and also said that Omicron is unlikely to be the last variant.
She said, “We expect the virus will continue to evolve and become more fit… we expect to see outbreaks among unvaccinated individuals, The virus is well on its way to becoming endemic, but we’re not there yet.”
Meanwhile, the WHO chief urged pregnant women to have access to vaccines and called for them to be included in trials for new treatments.
