Covid19 remains a major public health threat and this is not the time for countries to relax their vigilance in monitoring, testing, sanitizing and, let alone vaccinating, their populations.
The warning came from a WHO (World Health Organization) committee and was published in Geneva last Wednesday (13). For the agency, the pandemic continues to negatively impact the health of populations around the world and poses an ongoing risk of international spread.
The committee stressed that the lower number of Covid19 cases and deaths does not necessarily mean a “lower risk” of the disease, as the virus is evolving and cannot afford to ignore these mutations.
The past week has seen the lowest number of deaths from Covid19 in the world since the pandemic began. The decline in deaths and infections favored the announcement of new measures by the Brazilian government, published this Sunday (16).
However, some countries in Europe and Asia are still facing high peaks in the disease, putting pressure on their hospitals. South Korea leads the world in average daily number of new cases, with more than 182,000 new infections per day.
Shanghai is experiencing the worst Covid outbreak in China since the pandemic began. The number has also increased in countries such as France, Germany, Great Britain and Belgium.
According to WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the ability to monitor trends in the behavior of the pandemic is hampered as testing has been significantly reduced in several countries.
Genetic testing and sequencing are essential to track and identify new variants. Currently WHO is following several Omicron sublines including BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 and another proven recombinant which includes BA.1 and BA.2.
In Brazil, the BA.2 subvariant is already the majority among the Covid cases in Brazil, accounting for almost 70% of the samples analyzed, according to the ITPS (Instituto Todos pela Saúde).
The last underscores BA.4. and BA.5 have been reported in several countries including South Africa and some European countries. So far, however, these mutations have not led to an increase in cases and deaths.
But for WHO emergency director Michael Ryan, as the virus evolves, the world “must not just lose sight of it”.
“It would be very shortsighted to assume at this point that lower case numbers mean lower absolute risks. We are happy about the drop in deaths, but this virus has surprised us before, it has surprised us before.”
WHO senior scientist Soumiya Swaminathan warned that substrains and new recombinants will continue to emerge and the world must continue to invest in improved tools such as new vaccines.
“We have to be prepared for the possibility that this virus could change so much that it could escape existing immunity,” he said.
Tedros also stressed that the coronavirus remains deadly, especially for the unprotected and unvaccinated people who lack access to health care and antivirals.
A recent WHO survey shows that 21 countries have not even vaccinated 10% of their population.
Around 64.8% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
“The situation regarding the Covid19 pandemic is far from over. The circulation of the virus is still very active, mortality remains high and the virus is evolving in unpredictable ways,” he said.
For experts, the pandemic is a global phenomenon, so it is not up to any one country to decree its end. As such, health protocols must continue to be followed by all.