The Omicron variant is spreading “at a rate we’ve never seen with any other variant,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday, calling for all anti-COVID tools to be used to prevent systems health are quickly overwhelmed as the holiday season approaches.
In Europe, the Netherlands announced that schools will close from December 20, a week before the start of the Christmas holidays, and that authorities are extending current health restrictions, including the closure of shops, until January 14. non-essential, bars and restaurants every day from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. The United Kingdom, which is facing a “tidal wave” and which has experienced its first fatal case attributable to the variant, has also decided on new restrictions.
“Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of Omicron, but the reality is that Omicron is likely to be found in most countries although it has not yet been detected,” said the chief executive of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference in Geneva.
“We are concerned that people view Omicron as benign. […] Even if Omicron causes less severe symptoms, the number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems, ”he added.
“Majority in mid-December”
According to Abdi Mahamud, incident manager at the WHO, the spread of the variant is such that it could become the majority in some European countries by mid-December, while Europe is still grappling with the fifth wave of infections, caused by the Delta variant.
At his side, the Dr Bruce Aylward, adviser to the WHO boss, also served as a warning: “We have a more transmissible virus of which we do not know the clinical course very well. “
With the end of year holidays, during which many families will be reuniting, “we could put ourselves in a very dangerous position”.
Many uncertainties hover over the nature of this new variant, which has plunged the planet into panic since its detection in November by South Africa.
The WHO further fears that the booster doses decided in many Western countries for adult populations could undermine vaccination in poor countries.
Vaccine “inequity”
“I will be very clear: the WHO is not against booster doses. We are against vaccine inequity, ”Ghebreyesus said.
“It’s a question of prioritization. […] Giving booster doses to groups at low risk of serious illness or death simply endangers the lives of those at high risk who are still waiting for their first doses, ”he said.
He then pointed out that 41 countries had still not succeeded in immunizing 10% of their population and that 98 had not reached the 40% mark. “If we end the inequity, we end the pandemic. If we allow the inequity to continue, we allow the pandemic to move forward, ”he insisted.
The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, had already warned of the consequences that could have for Africa the decision of the European Union to reserve its vaccines for booster campaigns.
Screw turn
In several Western countries, the new restrictions are going badly.
The government of the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, therefore sought to calm the sling of the deputies of his majority against the new turn of screw operated: wearing of the mask inside, daily tests for the cases contacts, teleworking and compulsory health passport in major events.
In the United Kingdom, one of the countries in Europe most affected by the pandemic, with more than 146,500 dead, Omicron would infect 200,000 people every day, according to official figures.
In France, the government has reactivated several levers of mobilization and support for caregivers in the face of the fifth wave. Undergoing a “viral explosion” of COVID-19 while the resuscitation beds are full, Corsica called on “doctors, nurses and orderlies”, whether they are “employees, liberal or retired”, to strengthen the system hospital.
On the medical front, encouraging news has come from Pfizer: the pharmaceutical giant has confirmed that its anti-COVID pill reduces hospitalizations and deaths in people at risk by almost 90% when taken in the first days following the treatment. onset of symptoms.
In addition, a study from South Africa found that Pfizer’s vaccine was less effective overall against the Omicron variant, but still had 70% protection against severe cases of the disease.
The pandemic has killed at least 5,311,914 people around the world since the end of 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources, Tuesday in the middle of the day. The United States is the most bereaved country, with 798,713 dead, ahead of Brazil (616,878), India (475,888), Mexico (296,721) and Russia (291,749).