The global cases of COVID-19 they have doubled in the last month and a half, from about three million a week to six million today. This was warned this Wednesday by the general director of the World Health Organization (WHO)Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to international media.
“An increase in cases means that there may be more hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks,” Tedros said at a press conference, quoted by the agency. EFE.
The head of the WHO indicated that most of the current infections seem to belong to the BA.5 sublineage of the Omicron variant, “for now the most contagious known.”
In addition, he considered that the virus “will continue to evolve and we must be prepared for what it brings”, for which he once again insisted on the need not to relax in the response to the pandemic.
“Some countries have already dismantled parts of their response plan and are taking great risks in doing so,” said the Ethiopian expert.
Tedros added that “now is the time, when hospitals are not yet saturated, to address the shortcomings in follow-up, immunization, health personnel and resilience.”
“We will continue to see waves of infections, but we do not want them to also become waves of hospitalizations and deaths,” said the WHO director general, who insisted on the need to vaccinate health workers and older people in all countries.
“We will see continued waves of [#COVID19] infection, but we need not see continued waves of hospitalization and death. We have the tools to save lives – vaccines, tests, therapeutics and public health tools”-@DrTedros https://t.co/G4XNeeoCrf
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 20, 2022
This Tuesday, the WHO had already warned this Tuesday about the new wave of COVID-19 in Europe, a region that is going through a situation similar to that of the summer of 2021, with almost three thousand weekly deaths from the disease.
“With the increase in cases, we are also seeing a rise in hospitalizations, which will only increase in the fall and winter months as schools reopen, people return from vacation and social interaction moves indoors with the arrival. from the cold,” said the director of the WHO regional office in Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge.
Given this scenario, the strategy recommended by the WHO goes through an increase in the vaccination rate, the administration of a second booster dose to people over five years of age whose immunity is compromised, as well as to their environment, and consider a second booster shot for certain risk groups, at least three months after your last dose.
According to the criteria of the global entity, the use of masks indoors and on public transport should be promoted, public spaces with many people should be ventilated and rigorous therapeutic protocols should be applied for those who are at risk of suffering a serious illness.
In addition, it recommends supporting these measures with the reinforcement of laboratories so that there are rapid diagnoses and the spread of variants is tracked and that the use of rapid testing methods continue to be promoted.
EFE / OnCuba
