Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned the world leaders that the coronavirus pandemic "is nowhere near over" and new variants are likely to emerge even after Omicron.
The WHO chief's cautioned came amid the ongoing assumption that the Omicron variant is significantly milder and has eliminated the threat posed by coronavirus.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Tedros said, "Omicron may be less severe, on average of course, but the narrative that it is mild disease is misleading, hurts the overall response and costs more lives.
"Make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalisations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities.
"The virus is circulating far too intensely with many still vulnerable."
According to BBC, the intervention comes as some European nations saw record new case numbers such as France, who reported about half a million new daily cases on Tuesday.
"This pandemic is nowhere near over and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge," the WHO chief said.
Amid the continuous spike in Covid-19 cases, he expressed concern over the countries with low vaccination rates "as people are many times more at risk of severe illness and death if they’re unvaccinated".
BBC quoted Mike Ryan, WHO's emergencies director, as warning that Omicron's increased transmissibility is likely to drive a rise in hospitalisations and deaths, especially in nations where fewer people are vaccinated.
"An exponential rise in cases, regardless of the severity of the individual variants, leads to inevitable increase in hospitalisations and deaths," he said. (UNI)