WHO says COVID pandemic is far from over

The coronavirus pandemic is far from over, World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing. “We are certainly in the middle of a pandemic,” she admitted (quoted by Reuters).

The organization has previously said that the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year, but the period will depend on how quickly 70% of the population in each country can be vaccinated.

On March 16, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said that after weeks of declining cases, the number of reported cases of COVID-19 has begun to rise again, especially in Asia. Last week saw an eight percent increase in case detections, with more than 11 million positive tests. Ghebreyesus called this the tip of the iceberg.

According to WHO representative Maria Van Kerkhove, the incidence of COVID-19 in the world is growing again, as the Omicron strain continues to spread, in addition, its new variants have appeared - BA.1 and BA.2. “Of the two, BA.2 is more contagious. This is the most contagious variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that we have seen,” she said.