The World Health Organisation has issued a stern warning to countries to stop dismissing the Omicron variant of COVID-19 as mild, stating that it was just as powerful as the other variants.
According to WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Omicron kills people across the globe.
He said the record numbers of people contracting the new variant — which is rapid out-competing the previously-dominant Delta variant in many countries — meant hospitals were being overwhelmed.
“While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild,” Tedros told a press conference, according to the AFP.
“Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people,” he explained.
“In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world.”
Just under 9.5 million new COVID-19 cases were reported to the WHO last week — a record, up 71 per cent on the week before.
But even this was an underestimate, Tedros said, as it did not reflect the backlog of testing around the Christmas/New Year holidays, positive self-tests not registered and overburdened surveillance systems missing cases.
Tedros used his first speech of 2022 to slam the way rich nations horded available vaccine doses last year, saying it had created the perfect breeding ground for the emergence of virus variants.
He, therefore, urged the world to share vaccine doses more fairly in 2022 to end the “death and destruction” of COVID-19.
Tedros said the WHO wanted every country to have 10 per cent of their population vaccinated by the end of September 2021 and 40 per cent by the end of December.
Ninety-two of the WHO’s 194 member states missed the target set for the end of 2021 — indeed 36 of them had not even jabbed the first 10 per cent, largely due to being unable to access doses.
Setting a new target, he said at least 70 per cent of citizens in member states should be jabbed by mid 2022.
On the current pace of vaccine roll-out, 109 countries will miss that target.
“Vaccine inequity is a killer of people and jobs and it undermines a global economic recovery.
“Booster after booster in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic while billions remain completely unprotected,” said Tedros.
The WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said it was “very unlikely” that Omicron would be the last variant of concern before the pandemic is over.
In facing the more transmissible Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove urged people to step up the measures they were already taking to protect themselves against the virus.
“Do everything that we have been advising better, more comprehensively, more purposefully,” she said.
“We need people to hang in there and really fight.”
Van Kerkhove added that she was stunned by how sloppily some people were wearing facemasks.
“It needs to cover your nose and mouth… wearing a mask below your chin is useless,” she said.
Looking ahead to this year, Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s frontman on accessing Coronavirus tools, added that there was “no need to finish 2022 in a pandemic”.
But WHO Emergencies Director, Michael Ryan, said that without vaccine equity, “we will be sitting here at the end of 2022 having somewhat the same conversation, which, in itself, would be a great tragedy”.
