It is premature to see the end of the coronavirus pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that it would be premature to terminate the coronavirus pandemic since contagion remains high in many countries and global vaccination has not reached the minimum required.

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus/ EFE/EPA/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/File

“It is too early to claim victory. There are still many countries with low vaccine coverage and there is high transmission” to see the end of the pandemic, he said at a virtual press conference WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Adhanom considered the reduction in contagion globally “encouraging” and that some countries are lifting restrictions, but recalled that the threat of a new variant remains “real” and that the only way to end the pandemic is through vaccination. .

While 56% of the world’s population has already received the complete guideline, in countries with fewer resources that figure is reduced to 9%, when the objective of the who is that it reaches 70% in all states.

“Although omicron is less severe, the number of hospitalized and dead is higher than that of delta, due to its greater volume, due to the accumulated health burden and because the levels of vaccination coverage are insufficient,” he said. the head of the Department of Emerging Diseases, Maria Van Kerkhove.

The adviser to the director of the WHO, Bruce Aylward, recalled that the necessary supply exists to achieve the immunization goal, but that its control is “in very few hands.”

“The only way to achieve global security is with a more equitable distribution,” he said.

The pandemic and its effects on mental health

The WHO recalled that covid-19 has also put a “high toll” on mental health and that the greatest effects for it have been recorded in the areas hardest hit by the virus.

According to a study by this organization, the number of severe depressions increased by 27.6% during the first year of the pandemic, and the number of cases of anxiety, by 25.6%.

For this reason, the WHO highlights the need to take into account mental health and psychological support when dealing with the coronavirus.

Ukraine and the urgent need for a safe corridor

The appearance of Adhanom and other senior WHO officials was also focused on the situation in Ukraine, and included a call for the “urgent need” to establish a safe corridor to facilitate the arrival of medical supplies in the midst of the war with Russia.

The first shipment of medical equipment, transported from Dubai, will arrive in Poland tomorrow and will include specialized medical equipment that could cover the needs of around 150,000 people, the WHO announced.

Adhamom pointed out that there will be more shipments in the coming days and explained that 5.2 million dollars (4.7 million euros in exchange) have already been withdrawn from the WHO emergency fund, but that another 45 million (40 million euros) for the next three months.

“There is some access to material, but given the evolution of the conflict, we fear a worsening of the situation,” said the Director of WHO-Ukraine, Jarno Habicht.

Habicht lamented the impossibility of distributing the medical supplies stored in the WHO warehouses in Kiev, citing the lack of oxygen and medicines and the problems in carrying out the polio vaccination campaign among the concerns.

The WHO also expressed concern about reports of attacks on hospitals and health personnel, although it admitted that so far only one has been confirmed last week.
“The neutrality of hospitals and staff must be respected and protected. To do otherwise would be a violation of international law,” Adhamom said.

Premature that some countries plan to lift all measures

The World Health Organization (WHO) has drawn attention to the increase in deaths from covid that has been registered globally in the last four weeks and has warned that the omicron variant has not yet reached its peak, so He has considered it premature for some countries to plan to lift all prevention measures at the same time.

People without masks shopping at a market in Copenhagen (Denmark). EFE/EPA/LISELOTTE SABROE

Several countries in Europe plan to rescind several or all of the measures recommended by the WHO to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus in the near future, but experts have asked not to fall into overconfidence since although omicron tends to cause a less serious disease, its contagion capacity is much higher than the previous variants.

This is the case of Denmark that since this Tuesday it has eliminated all the restrictions imposed during its fourth wave, considering that the omicron variant does not imply a “danger” for its health or its inhabitants and despite the high levels of incidence, 5,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Thus, it is no longer an obligation to wear masks indoors, restrictions on restaurants, cultural and social life have disappeared, clubs and large events reopen.

Denmark thus becomes the first country in the European Union (EU) to lift all measures against the pandemic, as happened last September, although a few months later it began to reintroduce them as a result of the spread of the omicron variant.

WHO calls for caution

In the last ten weeks, coinciding with the start of the spread of omicron, 90 million new confirmed cases of covid-19 have been registered, more than in all of 2020, and this trend has begun to be reflected in deaths.

“We ask for caution because many countries have not reached the omicron peak yet: Several still have low levels of vaccination, with very vulnerable individuals within their population, so this is not the time to lift all measures at once, but to do it progressively, little by little,” said the head of the technical team to fight the pandemic at the WHO, María Van Kerkhove.

“This virus is very dynamic and although we know a lot about it, we still don’t know everything,” he told a news conference from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

The director of health emergencies, Mike Ryan, seconded his colleague, pointing out that not all countries are in the same position in the face of the pandemic, as some have high vaccination coverage and strong health systems, while other countries are in the opposite situation.

“A country cannot blindly follow what the neighboring country is doing. Each case is different and you should not give in to political pressure either,” said Ryan, who considered that the current phase could be considered “transitional.”

Reduce excess optimism

WHO Director-General Tedros A.Dhanom Ghebreyesus, said that “more infections necessarily mean more deaths”, so he asked not to fall into the narrative that vaccination combined with a less serious variant (ómicron) makes prevention measures unnecessary, such as the use of a mask or the quarantine of contacts of confirmed cases.

He asked everyone to remember that the virus continues to evolve “in front of our eyes” and that the same will have to happen with vaccines because the variants that have appeared and the next ones that will emerge could evade the immunity generated by vaccines made from previous variants.

Tedros noted that the who is in ongoing consultation with the immunization scientific community to assess the need for a vaccine that is effective against a broader spectrum of coronavirus variants.

What is known about subvariant BA.2?

Van Kerkhove said that the evolution of the BA.2 subvariant, which arose from ómicron and belongs to “the same family”, is being closely followed, since it is not the only one, but it is the one that has attracted the most attention recently because its incidence has accelerated in several countries.

“There is not much information available on this sub-variant yet (…) but there is preliminary information indicating that it could have a slightly higher transmission capacity than the BA.1,” he said, referring to the first omicron sub-variant known.

“People need to be aware that this virus continues to circulate and evolve, so it is important that we continue to take steps to reduce our exposure to any variant,” she said.