Covid-19 cases have doubled in the last month and a half worldwide, from about three million a week to the current six million, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
An increase in infection cases means there could be more hospitalizations and more deaths in the coming weeks,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva.
The WHO official estimated that most of the current infections originate in different countries from the BA.5 lineage of the Omicron variant, which is, so far, “the most contagious known” since the start of the pandemic, in 2020.
According to the latest data from the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), released this Tuesday, the the BA.5 lineage was responsible for approximately 95% of infections the week between July 4 and 10.
BA.5 has been the dominant strain in Portugal since May and was, according to experts, one of the causes of the recent sixth wave of infections that took place in the country.
On Monday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) used the example of Portugal to predict that other European countries could see an increase in covid-19 cases due to the BA.4 and BA.5 strains. .
The appearance of BA.4 and BA.5 in other countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) is expected to translate into increases in covid-19 cases, as has been observed in Portugal in recent years. months”, estimated the European agency.
According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 “will continue to evolve”, forcing countries not to relax in the face of the pandemic.
Some countries have already dismantled parts of their response plan and are taking great risks,” warned the WHO director general, for whom new waves of infections are expected, and it is necessary to prevent them from resulting in an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
Source: Observadora
