World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged the world to pull together and make difficult decisions to end the pandemic by 2022.
“The world must pull together and make the difficult decisions needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic within the next year. 2022 must be the year we end the pandemic,” he told reporters in Geneva.
Tedros said despite indications the Omicron variant is not more severe than the Delta variant, which is still the dominant strain, Omicron has been shown in early data to have higher transmissibility and a worrying resistance to vaccines.
Scientists have said there’s a possible increased risk of reinfection. However, the indications are mere speculations as experts are probing the immune escape potential of the Omicron variant.
The WHO has said the heavily mutated variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate. “There is consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant,” Tedros said, warning that an increase in the number of cases… may overwhelm the health system and more people could die.
More than 5.3 million people have died since the start of the pandemic, though the true toll is believed to be several times higher.
WHO chief also highlighted the point that there should be equity across the world as many vulnerable people are still waiting for a first vaccine dose.
“If we are to end the pandemic in the coming year, we must end inequity,” Tedros said.
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