"So huge and fast": Omikron wave rolls over the world - WHO warns of current action

Created: 01/07/2022, 12:04 PM

From: Franziska Schwarz

A kidney infected by Omikron under the electron microscope: the colored rectangle marks cell damage.

© DPT OF MICROBIOLOGY HKU / LPN / Imago

So far, researchers have found rather mild disease courses at Omikron.

But what does "mild" mean?

Experts strongly advise against carelessness.

The news ticker.

• There are only a few studies on Omikron, but it is clear that it is highly infectious.

• Some therefore fear an overload of the health system - others hope it will be endemic.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is now warning against underestimating the Corona * mutation *.

• The Omikron news ticker in Germany * and worldwide is continuously updated.

Geneva - Omikron is particularly infectious.

The rapid spread of the Corona variant - also in Germany - proves it.

At the same time, experts assume that the pathogen causes a comparatively mild course of the disease.

So a reason to breathe a sigh of relief?

The World Health Organization (WHO) disagrees.

"Just like previous variants, people have to be hospitalized for Omicron, and it kills people," said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 6th.

Even if the new virus mutation * is apparently less severe than the previously prevalent Delta variant, Omikron should therefore not be classified as "mild".

Omikron: WHO reports record high in corona infections

The "tidal wave" of new infections * from the Omikron variant is "so huge and fast" that it is overloading the health system worldwide, warned Tedros.

According to the WHO, almost 9.5 million new corona infections were reported worldwide in the first week of January.

That is 71 percent more than in the previous week - and a new high.

The WHO chief again denounced the actions of rich countries that had used a large part of the available corona vaccine doses for themselves.

Such action creates an ideal breeding ground for the emergence of new virus variants in countries with poor access to vaccination doses, warned Tedros.

Worldwide vaccination campaign: only a few countries can boost boosters

He therefore again called for a fair distribution of the vaccines.

"One booster vaccination * after another in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic * if billions of people are left completely unprotected," he said.

WHO expert Maria Van Kerkhove emphasized that it was "very unlikely" that Omikron would be the last variant before the end of the pandemic.

She therefore called on people to follow the hygiene measures better: "Do everything we advise you to do better, more comprehensively and more specifically."