WHO urges extreme caution against complete repeal of public health measures

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A couple enjoys aperitifs sitting in a bar as most of the country becomes a ‘yellow zone’, easing the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions that allow bars and restaurants to serve customers at outdoor tables, in Venice, Italy, April 26, 2021.

Manuel Silvestri | Reuters

The World Health Organization is urging “extreme caution” against lifting public health measures in countries around the world as the epidemic spreads to countries with low vaccination rates and puts other regions at risk of spreading variants.

Countries with high vaccination rates such as the United States and the United Kingdom are gradually lifting public health measures while others struggle with their worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

“We’re watching the spread of this virus around the world and we’re seeing sharp increases in many countries right now,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19, said in a Wednesday briefing.

WHO officials said the European region saw a 33% increase in Covid cases last week, but high vaccination rates could give a perception that the pandemic is over.

Dr. Mike Ryan said: “This is not a flat curve, this is an increasing curve. Making assumptions that transmission will not increase because we are opening up because of vaccines is a wrong assumption, and transmission will increase when you open.” Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program. “There are consequences.”

The Delta form that dominated the United Kingdom is now the dominant dynasty in the United States. The variant was more transmissible and could lead to more serious disease, although more studies are needed to confirm this, WHO officials said previously.

Ryan said he hopes we won’t see a return to overcrowded hospitals and overworked health workers in Europe where the virus is still evolving and changing. He warned that countries must be “extremely cautious” so that the gains they have made in the fight against the epidemic continue.

“The idea that everyone is protected and that they are Cumbaya and everything is back to normal I think now is a very dangerous assumption anywhere in the world,” Ryan said.

There have been nearly 185 million confirmed cases of Covid worldwide and 4 million deaths so far, which WHO officials have said is likely an undercount.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some countries with high vaccination rates plan to administer booster injections in the coming months, drop mandates for masks and “relax as if the pandemic is already over”.

He said many countries are seeing a rise in cases and hospitalizations leading to a lack of oxygen and leading to a “wave of death” in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“Vaccin-related nationalism where a handful of countries have taken the lion’s share is morally untenable and an ineffective public health strategy against a respiratory virus that is rapidly mutating and becoming increasingly effective in human-to-human transmission,” Tedros said.

He said variants are currently winning the race against vaccines due to the unfair distribution of life-saving shots. At this point in the pandemic, there are still millions of health care workers who have not been vaccinated, which Tedros said is abhorrent: “It doesn’t have to be this way to move forward.”

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