Covid-19 Technical Lead at the WHO warned that events that are large scale and see huge crowds “will have consequences”
Sydneysiders queue outside a vaccination centre. Residents have been banned from leaving the city to control the spread of the virus. Pic/AFP
The Delta variant of Covid-19, identified in at least 85 countries, is the “most transmissible” of the variants identified so far and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned. “I know that globally there is currently a lot of concern about the Delta variant, and the WHO is concerned about it too,” Director-General Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing. The Delta variant was first identified in India.
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He noted with concern that as some countries ease public health and social measures, “we are starting to see increases in transmission around the world.” “More cases means more hospitalisations, further stretching health workers and health systems, which increases the risk of death,” he said.
In a strong warning, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 Technical Lead at the WHO said, many European countries are witnessing a decline in cases, but there are a lot of events happening across the region, including large sporting or religious events “or even backyard barbecues”. “We are already starting to see some consequences of these events with increasing transmission again,” Kerkhove said. “So we need some kind of movement to pull ourselves together to drive transmission down and keep it down,” she said.
‘Booster may be needed for J&J shot’
Infectious disease experts are weighing the need for booster shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech, or Moderna vaccines for Americans, who received Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine due to the increasing prevalence of the more contagious Delta Coronavirus variant. UK studies show that two doses of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines are significantly more protective against the variant than one.
18,12,59,593
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS
CASES IN THE WORLD
39,26,977
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE
16,58,36,877
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS
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