Geneva: The global increase in COVID-19 cases continues, driven by large outbreaks in Asia and a fresh wave in Europe, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
Several countries are now seeing their highest death rates since the beginning of the pandemic.
This reflects the speed with which Omicron spreads, and the heightened risk of death for those who are not vaccinated, especially older people.
"We all want to move on from the pandemic. But no matter how much we wish it away, this pandemic is not over," Tedros told a press conference on Wednesday.
"Until we reach high vaccination coverage in all countries, we will continue to face the risk of infections surging, and new variants emerging that evade vaccines," he added.
According to him, even as some high-income countries propose a second booster dose, one third of the world’s population remains unvaccinated.
WHO’s target remains to vaccinate 70% of the population of every country by the middle of this year, with priority given to health workers, older people and other at-risk groups.
Achieving that target is essential to save lives, prevent the risk of long COVID, protect health systems and increase population immunity.
Other tools, including testing, sequencing and contact tracing, also remain essential, and it’s vital that countries don’t abandon the capacities they have built over the past two years.
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