CALLING OMICRON ‘MILD’ A MISTAKE, WARNS WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is killing people across the globe and should not be dismissed as mild, the World Health Organization insisted Thursday.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the record numbers of people catching the new variant — which is rapidly out-competing the previously-dominant Delta variant in many countries — meant hospitals were being overwhelmed.

“While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild,” Tedros told a press conference.

“Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people,” he explained.“In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world.”

The WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said it was “very unlikely” that Omicron would be the last variant of concern before the pandemic is over.

In facing the more transmissible Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove urged people to step up the measures they were already taking to protect themselves against the virus.

“Do everything that we have been advising better, more comprehensively, more purposefully,” she said.

“We need people to hang in there and really fight.”

Van Kerkhove added that she was stunned by how sloppily some people were wearing facemasks.

“It needs to cover your nose and mouth… wearing a mask below your chin is useless,” she said.

Looking ahead to this year, Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s frontman on accessing coronavirus tools, added that there was “no need to finish 2022 in a pandemic”.

But WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that without vaccine equity, “we will be sitting here at the end of 2022 having somewhat the same conversation, which, in itself, would be a great tragedy”.