The Omicron variant, which infects coronavirus at an unprecedented rate, remains “dangerous,” the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on January 12.
"Although Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta, it is still a dangerous virus, especially for those who are not vaccinated," said the organization’s general director, at a press conference.
The variant, which was first identified in southern Africa at the end of November 2021, has spread rapidly throughout the world, a trend that has reached the Americas. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), COVID-19 infections almost doubled in the last week, reaching 6.1 million cases as of January 8.
The less severe symptoms - especially for people fully vaccinated and with a booster dose - than those of Delta lead some to think that it is a benign disease.
But, as Dr. Tedros specified, "more transmission means more hospitalizations, more deaths, more people who cannot go to work, including teachers and healthcare personnel, and more risk of the emergence of another variant that is more transmissible and more deadly than Omicron." ".
"It is not a benign disease, it is a disease that we can prevent with vaccines," said Michael Ryan, in charge of emergency situations at the WHO, and stressed that "this is not the time to let our guard down, it is not the time." “Time to say that a virus is welcome, no virus is welcome.”
Found postures
Outside the vision of the WHO, Switzerland said on January 12 that the spread of the Omicron variant could cause the coronavirus to cease to be a pandemic and become an endemic disease, although it clarified that out of caution it will maintain the measures until March. adopted to contain its fifth wave.
These statements come two days after the Spanish Government revealed that it is working on a plan to evaluate the evolution of the virus with "different parameters", as an endemic disease similar to the flu and thus "stop counting daily cases."
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, explained that the plan is based on the evidence of the low mortality that the coronavirus now has compared to the number of cases that are registered, after two years of pandemic and with the progress of vaccination.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) came out yesterday at the Sánchez intersection, warning that "it is premature" to talk about the end of the pandemic given that there is still a high level of uncertainty about the variant.
Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset, agreeing with Sánchez’s theory, said: "Perhaps we are on the eve of a turning point that could be decisive with the passage from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase, thanks to an immunity in the population reaching now high levels"
"Ómicron is perhaps the beginning of the end - we don’t know - of this pandemic," the official highlighted during a press conference, cited by the AFP news agency .
Already days ago, countries like the United Kingdom proposed reducing isolation measures to alleviate absenteeism at work. And, specifically, Scotland is preparing to live with the virus, by lifting restrictions on mass events.
