The Omicron variant, which is spreading at a rate the world has not seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, “remains a dangerous virus” even though it causes less severe symptoms, the WHO boss on Wednesday.
“Although Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta (the hitherto dominant variant, Editor’s note), it remains a dangerous virus, especially for those who are not vaccinated,” said the director general of the organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference.
The variant, which was first identified in southern Africa at the end of November 2021, has since taken the world by storm, turning the curves marking daily infections in many countries into vertical walls, at levels not seen since the start. of the pandemic.
The less severe symptoms – especially for people who have been fully vaccinated and have had a booster dose – that Delta has made some people now see it as a mild illness.
But, warns Dr Tedros, “more transmission means more hospitalizations, more deaths, more people who cannot work, including teachers and health workers, and more risk. that another variant emerges that will be even more transmissible and more lethal than Omicron “.
“It is not a mild disease, it is a disease that can be prevented with vaccines,” said Michael Ryan, the WHO emergency manager.
“Now is not the time to give up, this is not the time to let your guard down, this is not the time to say that it is a virus that is welcome, no virus is the welcome, “said Dr Ryan.
The hope of some is that due to its extraordinary rate of transmission Omicron will replace the more dangerous variants and make it possible to turn the pandemic into an endemic disease that is more easily manageable.
Concomitant epidemics
For Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, in charge of managing the Covid-19 pandemic at the WHO, “the virus is on track to become endemic but we are not there yet” and the situation is marked by the difficulty predicting what will happen, such as the appearance of a new variant.
“We do not have the same predictability as with the flu, which is seasonal, we will perhaps arrive at this with the Covid-19 but we are not there yet and therefore we are careful in our predictions” , she stressed.
Adding that it was possible to put an end to the pandemic but on conditions to extend the high vaccination rates to the whole world and not only in the rich countries but also to reduce the rate of infection.
“How this is going to end is entirely up to us,” she said.
The WHO expects the virus to “continue to evolve” but does not know in which direction. She also expects that there will continue to be outbreaks of infections among unvaccinated people and that the world will experience concurrent epidemics – Covid and flu for example – because people will start to meet once more.
“But we also expect to be able to reduce the severity of symptoms and the number of deaths through vaccination but also by improving care and facilitating access to this care,” said the doctor.
There are a lot of elements at play, “but how this pandemic is going to evolve is up to each of us,” she repeated.
