World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, 29 December, expressed concern that the high transmissibility of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, circulating along with the Delta variant, is leading to a "tsunami of cases".
Observing that the parallel circulation of the Delta and Omicron variants is driving up cases globally, the WHO chief stated:
"Right now, Delta and Omicron are twin threats that are driving up cases to record numbers, which again, is leading to spikes in hospitalisations and deaths. I am highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, and circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases."
"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted healthcare workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods," he observed at the press conference.
The unvaccinated are many times more at risk of dying from either variant, he added.
'Politics Often Triumphed Over Solidarity': WHO Chief on Vaccine Inequity
While science delivered, politics too often triumphed over solidarity, stated WHO Director General Ghebreyesus at the press conference on Wednesday.
"Populism, narrow nationalism and hoarding of health tools, including masks, therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines, by a small number of countries undermined equity, and created the ideal conditions for the emergence of new variants."WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus
"While there were 1.8 million recorded deaths in 2020, there were 3.5 million in 2021 and we know the actual number is much higher," he stated.
"At the G7 and G20 this year, I challenged leaders to ensure that by the end of this year, countries have vaccinated 40% of their populations and 70% by the middle of 2022. 92 Member States, out of 194, missed the 40% target. This is due to a combination of limited supply going to low-income countries for most of the year and then subsequent vaccines arriving close to expiry and without key parts - like the syringes!"WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus
The WHO chief appealed to vaccine manufacturers and leaders of wealthy nations to learn from the lessons of the past, and to work towards ending vaccine inequity.
"I call on leaders of rich countries and manufacturers to learn the lessons of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and now Omicron and work together to reach the 70% vaccination coverage. This is the time to rise above short-term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variants by ending global vaccine inequity," he said.
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