As the entire planet is battling the Omicron variant of the Covid, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that more strains of the pandemic will emerge in the coming months. On Monday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asserted that global conditions are ideal for new variants to emerge, which means Omicron will not mark the end of the pandemic.
Omicron will not be the last variant of Covid
Ghebreyesus revealed that the world has already witnessed more than 80 million Covid cases since the Omicron outbreak, and this figure is more than the total coronavirus infections in 2020. The WHO chief asserted that Omicron will not be the last variant of the pandemic, and the world will witness new strains in the coming months.
However, Ghebreyesus added that the worst phase of the pandemic will be over by the end of this year. He noted that countries should adopt effective strategies and tools to combat the spread of the pandemic.
Covid vaccination is the key
The WHO chief asserted that vaccination is the key to preventing the spread of coronavirus. According to Ghebreyesus, all the countries in the world should try to vaccinate at least 70 percent of their population.
He added that priority should be given to older adults, healthcare workers, and vulnerable individuals. The WHO head also talked about the vitality of increasing the testing and genome sequencing to detect more Covid variants that could evolve.
"We must work together to bring the acute phase of this pandemic to an end. We cannot let it continue to drag on, lurching between panic and neglect," said Ghebreyesus, Reuters reports.
According to the latest updates, the Covid pandemic has already claimed the lives of more than 5.6 million people worldwide. Several countries are now facing a fresh wave of the pandemic, primarily driven by the Delta and Omicron variants.
