The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the Omicron and Delta variants will lead to an unprecedented wave of COVID-19 cases that will “strain” healthcare systems to their limits.
“I’m highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible [and] circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” according to WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking at an online news conference on Wednesday, December 29.
Despite initial studies indicating Omicron, the latest variant to be identified has been associated with the milder disease two years after the virus first emerged, top United Nations health officials have cautioned it is still too early to draw any conclusions from the results.
Omicron, which was first detected last month in South Africa, is already a dominant variant that is sweeping parts of the US and Europe.
As per WHO figures, there were almost 4.99 million new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide between December 20 and 26. This represents an increase of 11% over the previous week.
Europe accounted for more than half of all new cases, while the US accounted for 39%, and Africa accounted for 7%. Since October, the number of new cases has steadily increased.
As a result of the rise in cases, the WHO chief expressed concern that it would put “immense pressure on exhausted health staff and health systems on the brink of collapse”.
Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergency chief, emphasized caution. Nations must “suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum extent possible” in the next few weeks, he said.
However, the WHO Director-General remains “optimistic that [2022] can be the year we can not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security.”
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