The COVID-19 pandemic may be over, but the virus that caused it remains a threat, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned in a new update from the United Nations (UN).
Speaking in Geneva on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to strengthen their capacity to respond to COVID-19 and prepare for future threats and pandemics.
“The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus when delivering the report said The 76th World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the United Nations.
The threat of a new surge remains as new variants arrive, according to the WHO chief. In addition, new pathogens more deadly than COVID may also suddenly surface.
“The threat of another variant causing a new surge in disease and death remains, as does the threat of another pathogen with more lethal potential,” he added.
Tedros pointed out that “the pandemic is far from the only threat we face.” Therefore, global efforts to respond to various emergencies should be strengthened so that human beings are always ready for new crises.
“When the next pandemic hits – and it will – we must be ready to respond decisively, collectively and fairly,” he said.
This is not the first time the WHO chief has warned that COVID-19 remains a public health problem. On May 5, although he declared the pandemic over, he acknowledged that the novel coronavirus would remain a global threat as the virus continued to mutate and spread.
The group insists that in order to remain protected, people should get the COVID-19 vaccine and booster in a timely manner. But last week, the World Health Organization issued a statement on the antigenic components of the new vaccines, saying they should no longer target the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.
According to the WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Components (TAG-CO-VAC), the index virus and other early strains are no longer circulating in humans, so vaccine formulations do not need to target them.
Published by Medicaldaily.com