For the WHO, the world does not yet have all the right ingredients to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Globally, we have a toxic mix of low vaccination coverage and very low screening, a perfect recipe for variants to reproduce and amplify,” warned the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros. Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“The end of the pandemic is not a matter of luck, it's a matter of choice,” he added.
This warning comes as the appearance of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in November plunged the planet into panic.
Never has a variant caused so much concern in the world since the emergence of Delta.
Potentially vaccine resistant Omicron
According to the WHO, Omicron - also known as B.1.1.529 - “was first reported to WHO on November 24, 2021 by South Africa, while the first known laboratory-confirmed case has been identified from a sample taken on November 9 ”.
The WHO qualified Omicron last Friday as a variant of "concern", the highest level.
Omicron worries experts because it has many mutations that could make it more contagious, and potentially more resistant to vaccines.
Studies are underway to determine if this is indeed the case, and to what extent, but the first results should only be available in the coming weeks.
"At least 23 countries in five of the six WHO regions have now reported cases of Omicron, and we expect that number to increase," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
There have been four other variants of concern so far: Delta, which represents almost all of the cases sequenced worldwide, Alpha, Beta and Gamma.
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