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It is hard to believe, but the coronavirus pandemic has been around for more than two years now, but the difficult bit is that it is not slowing down as we hoped. According to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), the coronavirus pandemic is far from over. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned world leaders against considering the Omicron variant as a milder form of the virus and that it is going to eliminate the threat posed by the virus.
The European Union has seen a steep rise in new Covid cases, so it is advised that countries take this new variant seriously. France alone has reported around half a million daily cases, whereas Germany reported a 100,000 new infections in a span of 24 hours. During a news conference at the WHO headquarters, the WHO chief said that the Omicron variant has led to a total of 18 million new infections around the world in just over a week.
He continued to say that even though the variant may not be as deadly as some of the other variants of the coronavirus, saying that it is not something to worry about is misleading and dangerous. Omicron is still causing hospitalizations and deaths, so getting vaccinated and wearing a mask is important. The WHO chief warned world leaders to take Omicron seriously because tracking the virus is still important as this variant can evolve into something else entirely.
Countries that have low vaccination rates are of particular concern because more people will catch this virus and it causes severe illness and even death when the patient is not vaccinated. The WHO emergencies director Dr. Mike Ryan also had a few words to say. He said that the Omicron virus has increased transmissibility which can result in the increase of hospitalization. Hospitals around the world are already having a tough time treating existing cases, so they cannot take more.
Denmark has reported a little under 34,000 more cases on a daily basis. Italy on the other hand has been hit with the new variant in the worst way imaginable which over 200,000 cases being reported daily. With the rise in new infections, the French government, like other European governments have doubled down on vaccinations and even imposed restrictions against those who are still unvaccinated.
However, the new restrictions have not gone well with the public who have taken to the streets in protest. These protests are only helping the virus spread more quickly, and it is up to the European governments to find a way to solve these problems. Although early research suggests that the Omicron virus is not as deadly as the earlier variants of the virus, it is still wrong to think that the pandemic is ending. It is important that world leaders treat this new variant with the same intent as they did with the previous variants because otherwise the results can be catastrophic.
