New Delhi: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the world is in a very ‘dangerous period’ as Covid-19 pandemic is compounded by Delta, which is evolving and mutating rapidly. In countries with low vaccination coverage, he said, terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm.
‘Compounded by more transmissible variants, like Delta, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries, we are in a very dangerous period of this pandemic,’ Mr. Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on July 2.
‘But no country is out of the woods yet. The Delta variant is dangerous and is continuing to evolve and mutate, which requires constant evaluation and careful adjustment of the public health response,’ he said.
He noted that the Delta variant has been detected in 98 countries and is spreading rapidly in both countries with low and high vaccination coverage. He explained there are essentially two ways for countries to combat the threat of new outbreaks.
‘Public health and social measures like strong surveillance, strategic testing, early case detection, isolation and clinical care remain critical,’ he said, adding that masking, physical distance, avoiding crowded areas and keeping indoor areas well ventilated are crucial.
Mr. Ghebreyesus stressed that the world must share protective gear, oxygen, tests, treatments and vaccines equally, and said that he is urging leaders in every country to cooperate to ensure that 70% of the populace in every country will be vaccinated by next year. ‘This is the best way to slow the pandemic, save lives, drive a truly global economic recovery and along the way prevent further dangerous variants from getting the upper hand. By the end of this September, we’re calling on leaders to vaccinate at least 10% of people in all countries,’ he added.
A new generation of manufacturing hubs – together with mRNA vaccines – was being established, and the WHO chief said open sharing of technology and know-how could rapidly advance the process. ‘In particular, I urge those companies — BioNTech, Pfizer and Moderna — to share their know-how so that we can speed up the development of new production. The sooner we start building more vaccine hubs and upping global vaccine capacity, the sooner we can diminish deadly surges,’ he said.
The Delta variant, first detected in India, is now being reported in at least 98 countries, which is ‘likely an underestimate,’ the WHO stated this week, and the highly transmissible strain is expected to quickly outcompete other variants and become dominant globally within several months.
According to the Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published by WHO on June 29, 2021, ’96 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, though this is likely an underestimate as sequencing capacities needed to identify variants are limited. A number of these countries are attributing surges in infections and hospitalizations to this variant.’
As the Delta variant is more transmissible, it is ‘expected to rapidly outcompete other variants and become the dominant variant over the coming months’. The WHO believes that the tools in place today to combat the Coronavirus – including public health and social measures, infection prevention and control measures that have been used since the beginning of the pandemic – remain effective against current variants of concern, including the Delta variant.
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