Reuters.- The circulation of the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus is generating a “tsunami of cases,” declared the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference on Wednesday.
“Delta and omicron are now two twin threats that cause cases to reach record numbers, causing spikes in hospitalization and deaths,” said Tedros. “I am very concerned that omicron, being highly transmissible and spreading at the same time as Delta, is causing a tsunami of cases.”
Tedros reiterated his call for countries to share vaccines more equitably, warning that the emphasis on booster doses by wealthier countries could leave more disadvantaged nations without vaccines.
Read: Vaccines and variants: This is how we live the Covid-19 pandemic during 2021
He stated that WHO is campaigning for all countries to reach the target of 70% immunization by mid-2022, which would help end the acute phase of the pandemic.
New Year’s Eve will mark the second anniversary of China alerting WHO to 27 cases of “viral pneumonia” of unknown origin in the city of Wuhan.
Since then, more than 281 million people have been infected with Covid-19 worldwide and more than 5 million deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
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