WHO alert on ‘new’ Covid variants in coming days amid rising cases

New COVID cases have jumped by 15% and deaths by 35% globally in the last few weeks, World Health Organisation (WHO) has alerted and further noted, that more variants with such intense circulation will be seen in the coming days.
“Future variants will be more transmissible, may have further immune escape but we do not know if they will be more or less severe.”
Sharing some crucial data about the recent circulation, WHO’s Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said, millions have died from COVID19 since the start of this pandemic and 15000 are still dying each week. 15000 mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, friends… people we love.
“I know we are tired, but when did this become acceptable?” she questions.
As per data, globally, over the last 4 weeks, 26,722,228 new cases and 62,892 new deaths were reported to WHO. That’s a 15% rise in new cases & a +35% increase in new deaths over the reporting period.
The WHO official pointed out that in the coming day, the cases are likely to continue to rise ‘given the limited use of public health and social measures’. But COVID19 hospitalisations, deaths & Long Covid can be minimised.
Efforts need to be made to strengthen the use of life-saving interventions. We can do this AND live our lives, she said in another tweet.
More new variants in the coming days: Currently, Omicron BA5 is the dominant circulating variant but new variants are to emerge in the coming days, the official said cautioning, “reduced surveillance, testing & sequencing globally is making our ability to track known & detect new variants much more difficult.”
Speaking of the new variants, she said, there will be more variants with such intense circulation. This virus does not yet have a seasonality or act predictably.
Future variants will be more transmissible, may have further immune escape but we do not know if they will be more or less severe, she cautioned.