WHO: Omikron 'particularly dangerous' for unvaccinated people

According to Xinhua News Agency, the World Health Organization warned on the 12th that the new coronavirus variant Aomi Kerong is still dangerous, especially for those who have not been vaccinated against the new crown.

According to Reuters, as of the week of the 9th, there were 15 million new confirmed cases of new coronavirus in the world, an increase of 55% over the previous week, setting a record for the highest number of new confirmed cases in a single week since the outbreak of the epidemic.

"The significant increase in infections was caused by Themi kerong, which quickly replaced Delta (the strain)", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference, "although the symptoms caused by Themi kerong are not as severe as those of Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, especially for those who are not vaccinated." ”

Tedros believes that there are still many people around the world who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, so they cannot allow the Omilon strain to spread. "More transmission means more hospitalizations, deaths, shutdowns... This increases the likelihood of another variant, which may be more contagious and deadly than Omikeron. ”

Tedros said the global average of about 50,000 COVID-19 deaths per week is now around 50,000, and the "vast majority" of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals are not vaccinated. He acknowledged that the COVID-19 vaccine could not completely prevent infection, but stressed that the vaccine is still very effective in preventing severe illness and death.

According to who-set targets, the proportion of vaccinators in all countries and regions of the world should reach 40% of the population by the end of 2021 and 70% by mid-2022. However, there are still 90 countries and territories that are less than 40% of the population; In Africa, more than 85% of the population has not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Tedros called on pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19. He said pregnant women are not at high risk of infection, but are at greater risk of developing severe illness once the infection develops.

Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said it was not yet possible to say that Omikron was "a virus that can be gladly accepted".

Maria VanKelkhof, WHO's technical chief for COVID-19, said the coronavirus was in the process of evolving into a endemic epidemic and "has not yet reached that point".

Source: Beijing News