The World Health Organization said on the 14th that although the global weekly death toll from the new crown has dropped to the lowest level since the epidemic, new waves of infections are still expected in the future, and countries must remain highly vigilant and prepare for any possible epidemic risks. .
According to the latest weekly epidemiological report on the new crown released by WHO, in the week from September 5 to 11, there were more than 3.1 million new confirmed cases worldwide, a decrease of 28% from the previous week; regarding 11,000 new deaths were added. For example, it was down 22% from the previous week.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on the same day: “Last week, countries reported the lowest number of new crown deaths since March 2020. We are in an unprecedented position to end the new crown pandemic. .”
Tedros added: “We’re not there yet, but the finish line is just around the corner… But marathon runners will never stop when they see the finish line, but will do their best and run harder. Now is the time to run harder to make sure we cross the finish line and reap the rewards of our hard work.”
However, for the upcoming autumn and winter epidemic situation, WHO experts believe that there may be a new wave of infection in the future, and urge countries to remain highly vigilant.
Maria Van Kerckhoff, technical director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that the new coronavirus is still spreading at a high level around the world. “In fact, we know that the number of (coronavirus) cases reported by (countries) to WHO is underestimated. We believe the actual number of cases is much higher than reported.”
She predicts that in the future, there may be outbreaks of infections caused by Omicron subtype strains or even new mutant strains at different times around the world. But she also emphasized that new waves of infections do not necessarily mean more new deaths, because people already have vaccines, antiviral drugs and other anti-epidemic tools.
Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergency program, also said that even if the momentum of the new crown pandemic is waning, countries must remain vigilant because the opponent is “a highly volatile and still evolving virus.”
[Editor in charge: Gao Linlin]