The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is dangerous, especially for unvaccinated people, reported UN News.
While speaking to reporters during a press conference, Tedros said that while the Omicron variant is less severe than the Delta variant, it is still a hazardous virus. He also claimed that the Omicron variant is to blame for the massive increase in infection numbers globally.
Talking about the coronavirus vaccination rate, the WHO chief said only 50 percent of the global population is fully vaccinated, 9 percent partially vaccinated, and 41 percent is still unvaccinated against the virus.
He said only 5 percent of people in low-income countries are vaccinated against COVID-19 and that more than 85% of Africans have yet to receive a single dose of vaccine. He also pointed out the urgency to make all efforts to vaccinate 70 percent of global populations by mid-2020.
Tedros said the WHO and its partners are actively assisting the countries which have low vaccination rates in overcoming leadership and coordination constraints. He has repeatedly criticized the booster campaign as many countries still don’t have vaccines. He urged the world not to let its guard down in the fight against the pandemic.
The WHO chief also took the opportunity to once again appeal to people to go take their COVID-19 vaccinations in order to better protect themselves from the disease. He said that the vast majority of patients admitted to hospitals aren’t vaccinated.
According to the latest data, more than 15 million new COVID-19 infections were reported to the WHO last week, by far the most cases reported in a single week. The number of deaths reported weekly has remained stable since October last year, at an average of 48 thousand deaths a week.
