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14-01-2022, 07:12 AM
PUBLISHED JAN 13, 2022, 1:03 AM SGT
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“While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus – particularly for those who are unvaccinated,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.
“We mustn’t allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated.”
The overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals are unjabbed, he added.
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Tedros said that the numbers of deaths worldwide had stabilised at around 50,000 per week.
“Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths,” he said.
Tedros wanted every country to have 10 per cent of their population vaccinated by the end of September 2021, 40 per cent by the end of December, and 70 per cent by mid-2022.
But 90 countries have still not reached 40 per cent – with 36 of them still short of the 10-per cent mark, he said.
“In Africa, over 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine. We can’t end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap,” said Tedros.
Wealthier countries had made it “three times as hard” for dose-starved low-income nations by exporting misinformation rather than vaccines, said Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s frontman on accessing coronavirus tools.
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Omicron was unlikely to be the last variant preoccupying minds at the UN health agency.
“We expect the virus will continue to evolve and become more fit... we expect to see outbreaks among unvaccinated individuals,” she said.
“The virus is well on its way to becoming endemic – but we’re not there yet.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...inated-who
......
“While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus – particularly for those who are unvaccinated,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.
“We mustn’t allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated.”
The overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals are unjabbed, he added.
......
Tedros said that the numbers of deaths worldwide had stabilised at around 50,000 per week.
“Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths,” he said.
Tedros wanted every country to have 10 per cent of their population vaccinated by the end of September 2021, 40 per cent by the end of December, and 70 per cent by mid-2022.
But 90 countries have still not reached 40 per cent – with 36 of them still short of the 10-per cent mark, he said.
“In Africa, over 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine. We can’t end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap,” said Tedros.
Wealthier countries had made it “three times as hard” for dose-starved low-income nations by exporting misinformation rather than vaccines, said Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s frontman on accessing coronavirus tools.
......
Omicron was unlikely to be the last variant preoccupying minds at the UN health agency.
“We expect the virus will continue to evolve and become more fit... we expect to see outbreaks among unvaccinated individuals,” she said.
“The virus is well on its way to becoming endemic – but we’re not there yet.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...inated-who
