Measures used to fight the delta variant should remain the foundation for fighting the coronavirus epidemic, indeed in the face of the new Omicron interpretation of the contagion, World Health Organisation officers said Friday, while admitting that the trip restrictions assessed by some countries may buy time.
While about three dozen countries worldwide have reported omicron infections, including India on Thursday, the figures so far are small outside of South Africa, which is facing a rapid-fire rise in Covid-19 cases and where the new variant may be getting dominant.
Still, much remains unclear about omicron, including whether it’s further contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, or whether it can shirk vaccine protection.
“ Border control can delay the contagion coming in and buy time. But every country and every community must prepare for new surges in cases,”Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the WHO indigenous director for the Western Pacific, told journalists Friday during a virtual news conference from the Philippines.
“ The positive news in all of this is that none of the information we’ve presently about omicron suggests we need to change the directions of our response.”
That means continuing to push for advanced vaccination rates, abiding by social-distancing guidelines, and wearing masks, among other measures, said WHO Regional Emergency DirectorDr. Babatunde Olowokure.
He added that health systems must “ insure we’re treating the right cases in the right place at the right time, and so thus icing that ICU beds are available, particularly for those who need them.”
Kasai advised “ We can not be perfunctory.” WHO has preliminarily prompted against border closures, noting they frequently have limited effect and can beget major dislocations. Officers in southern Africa, where the omicron variant was first linked, have reprobated restrictions on trippers from the region, saying they’re being penalized for waking the world to the mutant strain.
Scientists are working furiously to learn further about omicron, which has been designated a variant of concern because of the number of mutations and because early information suggests it may be more transmittable than other variants, Kasai said.
A many countries in Western Pacific region are facing surges that began before omicron was linked, though COVID-19 cases and deaths in numerous others have dropped or metamorphosed, Kasai said. But that could change.
Among the places that have plant the variant in the region are Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia — and it’s likely to crop up in further places.
The emergence of omicron is of particular concern for organizers of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, now about two months down.
Beijing is espousing a series of measures to reduce the threat the contagion will spread during the Games, Zhao Weidong, prophet for the organising commission, told journalists at a briefing on Friday.
China has espoused a zero- forbearance policy toward Covid-19 transmission and has some of the world’s strictest border controls. Games actors will have to live and contend inside a bubble, and only observers who are residers of China and have been vaccinated and tested will be permitted at venues.
Encyclopedically, cases have been adding for seven successive weeks and the number of deaths has started to rise again, too, driven largely by the delta variant and dropped use of defensive measures in other corridor of the world, Kasai said.
“ We shouldn’t be surprised to see more surges in the future. As long as transmission continues, the contagion can continue to change, as the emergence of omicron demonstrates, reminding us of the need to stay watchful,”Kasai said.
He advised especially about the liability of surges due to further gatherings and movement of people during the vacation season. The northern downtime season will also probably bring other contagious respiratory conditions, similar as the flu, alongside Covid-19.
“ It’s clear that this epidemic is far from over and I know that people are upset about omicron,”Kasai said. “ But my communication moment is that we can acclimatize the way we manage this contagion to more manage with the future surges and reduce their health, social and profitable impacts.”
