“Covid-19 is far from over”, the WHO warned and supports the global health emergency

The rise in coronavirus infections shows that the pandemic is “far from over”warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, which supports it as one of the largest public health emergencies internationally.

“New waves of viruses demonstrate once again that covid-19 is far from overThis was stated by WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva.

The number of cases reported to the UN agency increased by 30% in the past two weeksdue to the sub-variants of ómicron -BA.4 and BA.5- and the revocation of sanitary measures.

In Argentina, a 39% increase in weekly cases was confirmed on Sunday, thus breaking a downward trend that had been going on for several weeks. There were 31,845 infections and 36 deaths.

Faced with this situation and the growing pressure on health systems, Tedros has asked governments to act with measures that have already proved effective.

“With the increase in hospitalizations and transmission of Covid-19, governments need to implement measures such as the use of masks, better ventilation, and screening and treatment protocols,” he added.

“The virus runs freely and in countries they are not effectively managing the burden of the disease based on their abilities, ”he said, referring to the hospitalization of patients with severe infections and the growing number of people with long-term covid.

WHO’s Covid-19 Emergency Committee met on Friday via videoconference and determined that the pandemic remains a public health emergency of international significance, the organization’s highest alert level by unanimous decision of the committee.

WHO Emergency Director Michael Ryan noted during the meeting that recent changes in testing policies were making it more difficult to detect new cases of covid-19 and the evolution of the virus.

The committee pointed out that the decrease in detection tests and, therefore, genomic sequencing, has made it “increasingly” difficult to assess the impact of the covid-19 variants.

“This makes it impossible to evaluate the variants of the virus that are currently circulating and the new ones,” he said.

According to the committee, the evolution of the virus and the characteristics of the new variants remain “uncertain and unpredictable”.

The committee also noted the recent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in different regions of the world, as well as the lack of adequate public health measures in regions affected by a resurgence of cases.

For its part, he recommended the WHO European office, which is responsible for 53 countries a second booster dose of the vaccine against covid for the elderly and vulnerable groups.

Since the end of May, the European continent has experienced a sharp increase in infections.

In Moscow, for example, the Russian capital, cases have increased by 57% in the last week, according to health authorities, who have once again recommended the use of masks.

With information from AFP

DD