WHO chief worried about 'tsunami' of Omicron, Delta cases
Two years after the coronavirus first emerged, top officials with the U.N. health agency cautioned that it's still too early to be reassured by initial data suggesting that omicron, the latest variant, leads to milder disease. First reported last month in southern Africa, it is already the dominant variant in the United States and parts of Europe.
“I'm highly concerned that omicron, being more transmissible circulating at the same time as delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” Tedros said at an online news conference. That, he said, will put “immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse.” WHO's emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, underlined that note of caution. He said it will be important in coming weeks to “suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can.”
“We need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we're seeing” about omicron, Ryan said.
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