Jan. 19, 2022

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed hope that the worst of this latest wave of COVID-19 is over, as Omicron continues to sweep the world, but cases seem to have peaked in some countries.

Briefing journalists in Geneva, the WHO chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus said that more than 18 million cases were reported last week, and the pandemic itself is far from over, so no country is out of the woods yet.

According to WHO, the number of deaths remain stable, but the agency is concerned about the impact the variant is having on already exhausted health workers and overburdened health systems.

“I remain particularly concerned about many countries that have low vaccination rates, as people are many times more at risk of severe illness and death if they’re unvaccinated”, Tedros said.

Omicron may be less severe, but for the WHO chief “the narrative that it is mild disease is misleading, hurts the overall response and costs more lives.”

Tedros noted that the virus is circulating “far too intensely with many still vulnerable” and argued that, for many countries, the next few weeks remain critical.