‘Dangerous’ To Assume Omicron Is Covid Pandemic’s Final Stage, World Health Organization Warns

Topline

It’s dangerous to assume the omicron variant will mark the end of the pandemic’s most severe stage, World Health Organization boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Monday.

Key Facts

Conditions are “ideal” for more variants to emerge and it’s not safe to assume “we are in the end game,” Tedros said during opening comments of a WHO executive board meeting Monday.

The omicron variant – which makes up the vast majority of U.S. cases – is more infectious but less deadly according to studies, leading countries like England to announce a shift in policy to “live with Covid in the same way we live with flu,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week.

But Tedros argued that approach is short-sighted and said “lurching between panic and neglect” would allow the acute phase of the pandemic to “continue to drag on.” 

Tedros urged countries not to “gamble on a virus” whose evolution can’t be controlled or predicted, pointing out coronavirus cases would still be a huge burden on the world’s health systems and that the consequences of long covid are not yet fully understood.

However, Tedros said he is hopeful the acute phase of the pandemic can end as soon as this year with increased vaccination, more testing and boosting therapeutics available worldwide, like oxygen and antiviral treatments.

Some countries appear to be turning the corner on omicron – new coronavirus cases are falling in the U.S., and in the U.K. omicron appears to have peaked.

Crucial Quote

‘Learning to live with covid cannot mean we give this virus a free ride,” Tedros said. 

Big Number

351.9 million. That’s how many confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic nearly three years ago, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. More than 71 million of those cases were reported in just the past four weeks. 

Key Background

The governments of Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Norway have all either pulled back restrictions this month or signaled they intend to. Earlier this month billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said the end of the omicron wave will mark a downturn in coronavirus cases worldwide and allow for the disease to be treated “more like seasonal flu.” Dr. David Nabarro, the WHO’s special envoy for Covid-19, told Sky News Monday coronavirus should be treated “as though it is full of surprises, very nasty and rather cunning.”

Further Reading

Bill Gates Says Countries Will Report ‘Far Fewer’ Cases Of Covid-19 After Omicron Hits Peak (Forbes)

Don’t Treat Covid Like Flu, WHO Says, As Nations Ditch Restrictions And Live With Virus (Forbes)