The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to "a tsunami of cases," putting immense pressure on national health systems.
"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods," he added, citing the pressure as not only new COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalisation but also a large number of health workers getting sick themselves.
Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases, Xinhua news agency reported.
"We don't want people to be complacent, saying this is not severe, this is mild. And we have to be very careful in that narrative," he added.
According to Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, though Omicron looks like being more transmissible, having a shorter incubation period, and causing a mild disease, it's based on the largely young population that the variant has been infecting.
"I think it's really important over the coming weeks that we keep suppressing transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can," he added.
(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT)
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