Omicron shows need for global accord on pandemics: WHO

A woman looks on from the observation deck of Tokyo’s Haneda international airport on Monday, as Japan barred all new foreign travellers. Pic/AFP

The World Health Organization on Monday is pushing for an international accord to help prevent and fight future pandemics amid the emergence of a worrying new Covid-19 variant.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined leaders like outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera for a largely virtual special session of the UN health agency's member states at the World Health Assembly. The gathering is aimed at devising a global action plan toward preventing, preparing and responding to future pandemics.

"The emergence of the highly mutated omicron variant underlines just how perilous and precarious our situation is," Tedros said, calling for a "legally binding" agreement seeking consensus on the way forward. "Indeed, omicron demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics.

"Our current system disincentivizes countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores," he said, adding that South Africa and Botswana - where the new variant was detected should be praised and not ‘penalized' for their work, alluding to travel restrictions announced by many countries on air travel to and from the region.

Tedros said WHO scientists and others around the world were working urgently to decipher the threat posed by the new variant, saying, "We don't yet know whether omicron is associated with more transmission, more severe disease, more risk of infections, or more risk of evading vaccines." "The world should now be wide awake to the threat of the coronavirus, but omicron's very emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we are done with Covid-19, its not done with us," he added.

A draft resolution set to be adopted by the World Health Assembly stops short of calling for work toward specifically establishing a ‘pandemic treaty' or ‘legally binding instrument' sought by some, which could beef up the international response when, not if, a new pandemic erupts. EU countries and others had sought language calling for work toward a treaty, but the US and a few other countries countered that the substance of any accord should be worked out first before any such document is given a name. A ‘treaty' would suggest a legally binding agreement that could require ratification, and would likely incur domestic political haggling in some countries.

Wary, weary world slams doors shut

Nations around the world sought Monday to keep the omicron variant at bay with travel bans and further restrictions. Japan has suspended entry of all foreign visitors. Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday. The US is banning travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday. The Australian government has delayed reopening of the country's borders.

Fauci says two weeks for definitive information

A top US health expert on Sunday informed that it will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity, and other characteristics of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. The remarks came from US Chief Medical Officer, Anthony Fauci while updating President Joe Biden on the latest developments related to it, a release from the White House informed. "It will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity, and other characteristics of the variant," Fauci said. Fauci said that existing vaccines are likely to provide a degree of protection against severe cases of Covid. He also reiterated that boosters for fully vaccinated individuals provide the strongest available protection from Covid.

6,11,528
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

26,17,07,621
Total no. of cases worldwide

52,03,155
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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