The head of the World He alth Organization has launched a call to unite and make tough decisions over COVID-19. This is essential to end the coronavirus pandemic within the next year.
- 2022 must be the year that the COVID-19 pandemic will end, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. Considering the coming Christmas, he emphasized that "we all want to spend time with friends and family." "We all want to go back to normal," he added.
Only as the head of WHO pointed out, there will be no return if we do not provide adequate protection now, especially in the face of the appearance of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus called Omikron. It has been recognized by WHO experts as a "highly contagious strain" that moves quickly.
The new variant was detected on November 11 this year. in Botswana in the central part of South Africa. Since then, it has been recorded in dozens of countries. His appearance also destroyed the hope that the worst period of the pandemic is behind us.
According to experts, the new variant of the Omikron coronavirus is not more serious than the still dominant strain of the so-called Delta variant. However, it has been established that it exhibits greater transmissibility and worrying immunity to COVID-19 vaccines.
"We need to put an end to inequalities"
Due to the rapidly growing number of infections, Tedros encouraged the cancellation of scheduled events. "Better to celebrate later than celebrate now and be sad later," he said.
Now we need to focus on ending the pandemic. For this purpose, it is necessary - according to the head of WHO - to use all the tools at his disposal, from vaccines to wearing masks, disinfecting hands and maintaining the recommended distance between people.
As Tedros pointed out, access to vaccines around the world should also be leveled. "If we are to end the pandemic in the coming year, we must put an end to inequalities," he concluded.
Probe