With 30% jump in Covid cases in two weeks, WHO says pandemic ‘nowhere near over’

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Covid-19 is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden as sub-variants of Omicron are driving waves of infections and deaths across the globe.

New waves of the virus demonstrate again that the Covid pandemic is “nowhere near over”, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, adding that “we must push back”.

Nearly two and a half years after the pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt, Dr Tedros said cases of Covid continued to surge and placed further pressure on thinly-stretched health systems and health workers. He added that the increase in deaths concerned him.

The Covid pandemic, he said, remains a public health emergency of international concern.

According to the WHO’s emergency committee, Covid cases have surged by 30 per cent in the last fortnight despite a simultaneous rise in population immunity to the virus which has been driven by vaccines. The WHO has also seen a “decoupling” of cases from hospitalisations and deaths.

Several interlinked challenges in the handling of the pandemic include rising cases, hospitalisations and deaths due to sub-variants of Omicron, he said.

“Second, surveillance has reduced significantly – including testing and sequencing – making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics, and the effectiveness of counter-measures,” Dr Tedros warned.

And third, “diagnostics, treatments and vaccines are not being deployed effectively”, he added.

“The virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity, in terms of both hospitalisation for acute cases and the expanding number of people with post-Covid condition – often referred to as long Covid,” he warned.

The first highest level of alert of the coronavirus pandemic was sounded on 30 January 2020 by the WHO.

Rising cases have led to administrations sounding alarms among people to get booster shots and observe Covid safety protocols.

Asking people to exercise renewed caution, officials from the Joe Biden administration in the United States have asked eligible citizens to get their booster shots and wear masks indoors.

This comes in the wake of rapid spread of highly transmissible and contagious sub-variants such as BA.4 and BA.5 of Omicron in the country.

Top infectious disease expert and White House medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci warned that while the new variants are concerning, the US has tools such as boosters, indoor masking and treatments to keep the virus from wreaking havoc again.

“We should not let it disrupt our lives but we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with,” Dr Fauci warned.

Even if someone was recently infected with Covid, they should get a booster, he added. “Immunity wanes, so it is critical to stay up to date with Covid vaccines.”