The World Health Organisation (WHO) has alerted countries that increased social gathering during the yuletide period might lead to increased omicron Covid-19 cases that could overwhelm health systems and cause more deaths.
Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva, the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus lamented that 18 months after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was still in the grip of the deadly virus.
Owing to this, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called on residents of the state to be cautious and take all necessary precautions to avoid the spread of the virus as well as any mishap relating to fire and security misfortune in the state during the festive period.
This is just as in Nigeria, the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a controversial bill which seeks to repeal the Quarantine Act and enact the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, make provisions relating to quarantine and make regulations for preventing the spread of dangerous infectious diseases in the country.
Ghebreyesus expressed sadness that more than 3.3 million people had lost their lives to COVID-19 this year, more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020.
“And still, COVID-19 continues to claim around 50 000 lives every week. That’s not to mention the unreported deaths, and the millions of excess deaths caused by disruptions to essential health services,” he said.
The WHO chief said Africa was facing a steep wave of infections, driven largely by the Omicron variant.
He cautioned that increased social mixing over the holiday period in many countries could lead to increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths.
Ghebreyesus said a month ago, Africa was reporting its lowest number of cases in 18 months, adding that last week the country reported the fourth-highest number of cases in a single week so far.
“There is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant.
“And it is more likely that people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected,” he said.
Apparently expressing his frustration about the COVID-19, Ghebreyesus said: “All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal.”
He said the fastest way to achieve relief from the pandemic was for all leaders and individuals to take difficult decisions to protect their citizens.
According to him, this would mean cancelling or delaying events if necessary.
“If we are to end the pandemic in the coming year, we must end inequity, by ensuring 70 per cent of the population of every country is vaccinated by the middle of next year,” he said.
WHO had last week issued Emergency Use Listing for a ninth vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India under license from Novavax.
“This new vaccine is part of the COVAX portfolio, and we hope that it will play an important role in achieving our global vaccination targets,” he added.
Ghebreyesus further spoke of the debilitating impact of the COVID-19 which had weakened the ability to attend to other health challenges.
He said the pandemic had caused setbacks in the efforts to defeat the world’s leading infectious diseases.
According to him, there were an estimated 14 million more malaria cases and 47 thousand more malaria deaths in 2020 compared to 2019.
He said a new data released this year, showed that 23 million children missed out on routine vaccines in 2020, the largest number in over a decade.
The WHO boss added that the situation had increased risks from preventable diseases such as measles and polio. He further recalled that the world body launched a global road map to defeat meningitis by 2030.
On the outlook for 2022, the WHO chief expressed hope that the year would see an end to the pandemic.
He said it would be a year that all countries would invest in preventing a future disaster on a large scale, and in accelerating efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.