“We estimate that there are currently hundreds of thousands of hospitalized patients with Covid-19,” said Maria Van Kerkov, WHO’s technical officer for Covid-19.
The World Health Organization observes “alarming trends” of increasing cases of Covid-19 ahead of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and calls for vaccinations to be intensified and the evolution of the virus to be monitored.
Although infection data is limited because many countries have stopped reporting it, “we always see worrying trends regarding Covid-19 as we approach the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere,” said the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in an online press conference he gave.
“Deaths are increasing in some parts of the Middle East and Asia, admissions to intensive care units have increased in Europe and hospitalizations are increasing in many regions“, he added.
But Tedros noted that only 43 countries, out of 194 who are members of the WHO, reported deaths and only 20 gave the Organization data on hospitalizations.
“We estimate that there are currently hundreds of thousands of hospitalized patients with Covid-19,” said Maria Van Kerkov, WHO’s technical officer for Covid-19.
“It’s worrying because in some countries the weather will soon get colder: people tend to spend more time together indoors and airborne viruses like Covid-19 benefit“, explained.
Since influenza and bronchiolitis viruses (SRV) are also circulating at the same time, Van Kerkow noted that it is important to get diagnostic tests and vaccinations.
Tedros said that regarding Covid-19, Omicron’s EG-5 sub-variant is showing upward trends. A few cases of the BA.2.86 subvariant have been identified in 11 countries, and WHO is monitoring its evolution closely to assess its transmissibility.
According to Van Kerkow, preliminary evidence shows that currently available vaccines offer protection against BA.2.86.
WHO’s main concern is the insufficient number of people at risk who have not been vaccinated. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the most vulnerable not to wait to make the booster dose.
“The increase in hospitalizations and deaths shows that Covid-19 is here to stay and we will still need tools to fight it” concluded.
Source :Skai
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