WHO says omicron won't be the last Covid variant as global cases surge by 20% in a week

January 20, 2022: On Tuesday, The World Health Organization said the pandemic would not end as the omicron variant subsidies in a few countries, warning the high levels of infection worldwide will likely lead to recent variants as the virus mutates.

“We’re hearing a lot of people suggest that omicron is the previous variant, that it’s over after this. And that is not the case due to this virus is circulating at a very intense level worldwide,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said in a coronavirus update in Geneva.

According to the WHO, new infections have increased by 20% globally over the past week, with nearly 19 million total reported cases. But Van Kerkhove noted that new, unreported conditions would increase the actual number.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO official, warned high transmission levels allow the virus to replicate and mutate, which raises the risk that a new variant will emerge.

“We don’t fully understand the consequences of letting this thing run,” Aylward said. “Most of what we’ve seen so far in areas of uncontrolled transmission has been we paid the price for the variants that emerge and new uncertainties we have to manage as we go forward.”

Van Kerkhove said it is not the time to relax public health measures, such as curtailing mask-wearing and physical distancing. She called on governments to strengthen those measures to bring the virus under better control and head off future waves of infection as new variants emerge.

“If we don’t do this now, we will move on to the upcoming crisis,” Van Kerkhove said. “And we need to end the crisis that we are currently in, and we can do that at present. So don’t abandon the science. Don’t abandon the strategies that are working, that are keeping our loved ones and us safe,” she said.

Although, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said it is too early to predict if the omicron will mark the final wave of the pandemic.

“I would hope that that’s the case, but that would be the case if we don’t get one more variant that eludes the immune response of the prior variant,” Fauci told the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda through video conference.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus said the recent infections are peaking in a few countries, which provides hope that the worst of the omicron wave is over. Although, Tedros said no country is out of the woods yet, warning that healthcare systems are still under pressure from the unprecedented wave of infections.

“I urge everyone to do their best to reduce risk of infection so that you can help take pressure off the system,” Tedros said. “Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag.”