Interview Times Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization says, “Omicron’s very emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we’re done with Covid-19, it’s not done with us,”
World Health Organization said Monday that the global risk of the new omicron variant is “very high,” as more countries reported cases of the variant, reporting worldwide concern that there is more pandemic suffering ahead.
In response to the rapid hike in cases, an increasing number of nations are strengthening their borders despite pleas for caution and outbursts of dismay from some.
“Omicron’s very emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we’re done with Covid-19, it’s not done with us,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, told a special session of the World Health Assembly.
In advice to its member states, the U.N. agency urged them to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination coverage “as rapidly as possible,” particularly among high-priority groups, and to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts.
“Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerned for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic,” the body said in the report it tweeted out. “If another major surge of Covid-19 takes place driven by omicron, consequences may be severe.”
