Bahama Times

Monday, Apr 15, 2024

Cancel your holiday plans, urges WHO, to stop Omicron Covid variant spread

Cancel your holiday plans, urges WHO, to stop Omicron Covid variant spread

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, at a news briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 2021 called on countries and individuals to postpone or cancel holiday plans to try to stop the global spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday at a briefing in Geneva.

Tedros said evidence shows that the Omicron variant is "spreading significantly faster" than the previous dominant version, Delta, and “it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected”.



Cancel now, celebrate later

Holiday festivities will lead to "increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths", warned Tedros, urging leaders and individuals to cancel or delay events and planned gatherings.

"It's better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later," he said.

A number of countries have put in place measures to try to slow the spread of the variant

France has not imposed lockdowns, as its neighbours, The Netherlands have done, but it has imposed travel restrictions, and Paris and other cities have cancelled public New Year’s celebrations.

Omicron is now dominant in the United States, and Americans are advised not to travel to more than 80 countries, including almost all of Europe.



More infectious than Delta

The WHO also said it would be "unwise" to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant than Delta.

The statements echo the findings in a study published last week by the Imperial College London showing the risk of reinfection from Omicron is more than five times higher than Delta, and has shown no sign of being milder.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the briefing Monday that the new variant is successfully evading some immune responses, meaning that vaccine booster programmes being rolled out in many countries ought to be targeted towards people with weaker immune systems.



Hope for the future?

Amidst the bleak reporting, the WHO also said second- and third- generation vaccines, and the development of treatments and other innovations could provide hope that the pandemic can eventually be brought under control.

Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, told the briefing that the organization hopes “to consign this disease to a relatively mild disease that is easily prevented, that is easily treated".

"If we can keep virus transmission to minimum,” he said, “then we can bring the pandemic to an end."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bahama Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×