It is dangerous to assume the omicron variant and will signal the end of the pandemic’s most severe state. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned the public last Monday. Conditions are “normal” for more COVID variants to emerge, but it is dangerous to say that “we are in the endgame,” Tedros said.
The omicron variant, which accounts for most U.S cases, is more infectious. But according to studies, it is less deadly. This situation leads other countries like England to announce policy changes. That is, “to live with COVID in the same way we live with flu,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Tedros argued that the approach is shortsighted. He said “lurching between panic and neglect” would make the severe phase of the pandemic longer.
Instead, Tedros encouraged countries not to gamble on a virus whose evolution cannot be predictive and controlled. The WHO director-general pointed out COVID-19 cases would still be a substantial worldwide health challenge. In addition, the effects of long COVID are not yet fully understood.
But Tedros said he is confident that the acute phase of the pandemic could end. That would be attributed to increased vaccination, mass testing, and boosting treatments worldwide.
Some countries seem to be turning the corner on omicron as new coronavirus cases are falling in the U.S. But in the U.K., omicron appears to have peaked.
“Learning to live with coronavirus cannot mean we give this virus a free ride,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO
A total of 351.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases had been reported since the onset of the pandemic nearly three years ago. According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, more than 71 million of those cases were reported in the past four weeks.
Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Norway have either eased off restrictions this month or declared plans to do so.
Possibility of Other COVID variants
Bill Gates expressed that the end of the omicron COVID variant would mark a decline in coronavirus cases worldwide. It would allow for the disease to be treated more like seasonal flu. He said that the world needs vaccines that protect people from reinfection. In a live Q&A session on Twitter, Gates vaguely noted that COVID variants with a higher transmission rate of infection than omicron is not likely to emerge.
Dr. David Nabarro, WHO’s special envoy for COVID-19, told Sky News that COVID-19 is not similar to flu and should not be treated as one.
England is dropping face masks and COVID-19 passport requirements, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said everyone must learn to live with coronavirus in the same way we live with flu.
Dr. Nabarro’s statement comes as governments worldwide, including Spain, Ireland, the U.K., and Japan, drop restrictions. Several counties have begun treating COVID-19 as an endemic illness like the flu.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said the complete eradication of COVID-19 is unlikely. But it probably would settle and become one of the diseases like flu.
“I think that’s what people feel when referring to endemicity – that coronavirus is included into the broad range of infectious diseases. For instance, Smallpox is the only infectious disease that infects humans to have ever been eradicated,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
However, Dr. Nabarro said it is still a very dangerous virus. He called out governments that suggest this has suddenly changed. Also, he doubts the optimistic predictions people are making, while the rest of the WHO doesn’t release any assumptions.
