Delta – Omicron variants: WHO fears “infection tsunami”

By Agence de Presse Africaine Last updated Dec 31, 2021

APA-Dakar The World Health Organization is sounding an alarm over the state of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, warning that there could be an “infection tsunami” by the turn of the new year. The cohabitation of the Delta and Omicron variants will cause a“ tsunami of cases” warned the WHO, which noted a record number of Omicron contaminations in the world.

APA-Dakar (Senegal) The World Health Organization (WHO) is sounding an alarm over the state of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, warning that there could be an “infection tsunami” by the turn of the new year.

By Cheikh Diop

The cohabitation of the Delta and Omicron variants will cause a “tsunami of cases” warned the WHO, which noted a record number of Omicron contaminations in the world.

The combined effects of the two variants have led to an 11 percent increase in infections worldwide in the space of a week.

“I am very concerned that Omicron, which is more contagious and circulating at the same time as Delta, will lead to a tsunami of cases,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.

This, he warned would add “immense pressure on already exhausted health workers and health systems, which are on the verge of collapse”.

With 72 percent of new deaths, Africa is the most affected continent ahead of Asia with 9 percent and the Americas with 7 percent.

By contrast, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region experienced a 12 percent and 7 percent drop in the incidence of deaths.

According to the WHO, this is because 92 of its 194 member states missed their target of vaccinating 40 percent of their population by the end of 2021.

This has led to the spread of Delta and Omicron with all their attendant consequences.

Ghebreyesus urges all countries to make it a New Year’s resolution to vaccinate 70 percent of their populations by July 2022.

While cases of infection have soared in recent days, WHO said the number of deaths has been steadily falling worldwide for the past three weeks.

Much more contagious but less virulent, Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa at the end of November, could curiously be a remedy for Delta and eventually mitigate the pandemic.

According to a preliminary result from South Africa by the team of virologists led by Alex Sigal, from the Durban Health Research Institute, “antibodies produced during infection with the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 would then protect against Delta.”

The study published on the institute’s website still needs to be validated, according to the New York Times, which points out that “people who have recovered from an infection with the Omicron variant may be able to defend themselves against subsequent infections like the Delta variant.”

CD/lb/as/APA