The World Health Organization, WHO, says there is now “consistent evidence” that the Omicron variant was outperforming Delta, as COVID-19 continues to account for around 50,000 deaths worldwide each week.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus told reporters at the agency’s Geneva headquarters that it was also more likely that people who had been vaccinated or recovered from the virus could become infected or reinfected.
“There can be no doubt that greater social mixing during the holiday period in many countries will lead to an increase in cases, overwhelm health systems and more deaths.
“We are all fed up with this pandemic. We all want to spend time with friends and family. We all want to get back to normal.
“The quickest way to do that is for all of us, leaders and individuals, to make the tough decisions that need to be made to protect ourselves and others,” he said.
He said delaying or canceling events was responsible: “A canceled event is better than a canceled life. Better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and cry later. “
More than 3.3 million people have lost their lives to COVID-19 this year, more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020, and Africa is now facing a strong wave of infections, driven by largely because of the Omicron variant.
Just a month ago, Africa reported its lowest number of cases in 18 months, Ghebreyesus reminded reporters on Monday, while last week, it reported the fourth highest number of cases in a single week so far.
“None of us want to be here again in 12 months, talking about lost opportunities, continued inequality or new variants,” he said.
The director general emphasized that for the pandemic to end in 2022, “we must end inequity, ensuring that 70 percent of the population of each country is vaccinated by the middle of next year.”
Around the world, WHO works with countries to restore and maintain essential health services disrupted by the pandemic.
According to new data released this year, 23 million children missed routine vaccinations in 2020, the highest number in more than a decade, increasing the risks of preventable diseases such as measles and polio, the LA correspondent reported. Nigerian News Agency at the United Nations.
However, progress is still being made in many other areas of health and medicine.
Five countries were able to introduce the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, with another nine planning to introduce it over the next six months, and in September, the WHO launched a global roadmap to beat meningitis. by 2030.
The pandemic has also caused setbacks in the agency’s efforts to defeat the world’s leading infectious diseases, with an estimated 14 million more malaria cases and 47,000 more deaths from malaria in 2020, compared to 2019.
“However, the WHO certified two countries, China and El Salvador, as malaria-free this year, and another 25 are on track to end malaria transmission by 2025,” Ghebreyesus said.
He said the WHO also made a landmark recommendation for the wide use of the world’s first malaria vaccine.
Noncommunicable disease services have also been affected, with more than half of the countries surveyed between June and October reporting interruptions in diabetes, cancer detection and treatment, and hypertension management services.
Summing up a tumultuous year, he also noted that several important steps had been taken to strengthen the global health architecture and WHO itself.
“We launched the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Center in Berlin; We started the construction of the WHO Academy in Lyon; We established the WHO BioHub System, ”he said.
In early December, member states agreed to negotiate the world’s first new agreement on pandemic preparedness and response.
“We have also taken decisive action to address cases of sexual exploitation and abuse and to ensure that our people meet the high standards that we, and our Member States, expect of them.
“We are taking decisive action to address sexual exploitation, following shocking revelations of alleged abuses by WHO staff during the 10th deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” he said.
“2022 should be the year we end the pandemic,” said the director general, but to prevent a future disaster of the same scale, all countries must invest in resilient health systems, based on primary care and coverage universal health as a goal. .
“When people cannot or cannot afford the services they need, individuals, families, communities and entire societies are at risk.
“In the coming year, WHO is committed to doing everything in our power to end the pandemic and begin a new era in global health, an era in which health is at the center of global health plans. development of all countries ”, he said.
