Omicron, a variant of concern of COVID-19 created a huge scare around the world a few months ago. With its high transmissibility rate, many people got infected by the variant in the third wave in India. However, the public also started believing in some misleading notions about Omicron variant and Covid pandemic. On Saturday, talking about the misinformation spreading around the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that several misleading factors are responsible for the recent spike in cases worldwide. Read further to know how WHO cleared the air about these claims.
WHO's COVID-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove shared that misinformation like the pandemic is over, Omicron is mild and that it is the last variant of COVID-19, are leading to a lot of confusion in people and making the virus to spread even more. "We have huge amounts of misinformation that's out there. The misinformation that Omicron is mild. Misinformation that the pandemic is over. Misinformation that this is the last variant that we will have to deal with. This is really causing a lot of confusion," she said.
Dr Mike Ryan, WHO's executive director for health emergencies, said that the Omicron variant will rise for a few months until another variant of vulnerability comes up. According to him, Coronavirus has not shown any signs of becoming seasonal. "This is how viruses work. They establish themselves within a community & move quickly to the next unprotected community," he added.
Also read: WHO Warns: Next COVID-19 Variant Will Be More Contagious, Know Details Here
Recently, Israel reported a new Covid-19 variant which is a combination of Omicron's BA.1 and BA.2. Hence, Dr. Muke Ryan said, "When a virus enters human body, it evolves. It's just evolution in action. The same virus, going into a body and coming out slightly different. That's called drift and over time that can generate variants. Recombination occurs when two viruses infect the same person or the same animal. And what you then have is not just errors in transcription. But two viruses can exchange large amounts of genetic information and you effectively get a new virus out the other end."
Focusing on the need for getting vaccinated, the WHO official said that still Covid vaccines are very effective in preventing severe infection symptoms and fatality, including Omicron. Ms Kerkhove also mentioned that BA.2 looks like the most transmissible variant so far. "We do not see changes in the severity of BA.2 compared to BA.1 at population levels. However, with huge numbers of cases, you will see an increase in hospitalizations & that in turn has translated into increased deaths," she said.
Also read: WHO Warns: Omicron Can Change Feeling Of Safety Any Moment
Recently, the WHO had said that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is not even near, while emphasising on the rise in daily positive cases as per its latest weekly data. New Coronavirus infections jumped by 8 per cent across the world as compared to the previous week, with 11 million fresh cases. The highest jump was in the WHO's Western Pacific region, including South Korea and China, where cases spiked by 25 per cent and deaths by 27 per cent.
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