‘Omicron rapidly replacing Delta in almost all nations’

The Omicron variant is driving a huge spike in Covid infections across countries but the death rate is stable World Health Organization WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has saidLast week more than 15 million new cases of Covid19 were reported to WHO from around the world by far the most cases reported in a single week While these are official estimates the actual numbers could be really highrdquoThis huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countriesrdquo said Ghebreyesus at his press address on Wednesday People wear mandatory face masks at a subway station in the city centre of Essen Germany on WednesdayldquoHowever the number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October last year at an average of 48000 deaths a weekrdquo he added This could be due to the reduced severity of Omicron and widespread immunity from vaccination or previous infection he noted But for those who are unvaccinated ldquoOmicron remains a dangerous virusrdquo the WHO chief said ldquoAlmost 50000 deaths a week is 50000 deaths too manyrdquo Ghebreyesus saidPeople wearing masks walk on a street in the central business district in Beijing on Thursday PicsAPldquoLearning to live with this virus does not mean we can or should accept this number of deathsrdquo He stated that the world cannot ldquoallow this virus a free riderdquo when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated In Africa for example more than 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine ldquoWe cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gaprdquo he said According to Ghebreyesus the overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals around the world are unvaccinated At the same time while immunisations remain very effective at preventing severe disease and death they do not fully prevent transmissionFace coverings reduce emissions StudyA study has found that masks reduce the distance airborne pathogens could travel when speaking or coughing by more than half compared to not wearing a mask The research has been published in the lsquoJournal of Infectious Diseasesrsquo The findings are important as airborne viral pathogens such as SARSCoV2 can be encapsulated and transmitted through liquid droplets and aerosols formed during human respiratory functions such as speaking and coughing Knowing ways to reduce this transmission distance can help keep people safe and aid in managing responses to pandemics such as Covid19 which has resulted in globalscale infection health care system overloads and economic damage ldquoThe research provides clear evidence and guidelines that 3 feet of distancing with face coverings are better than 6 feet of distancing without face coveringsrdquo said study coauthor Kareem Ahmed an associate professor in the University of Central Florida The researchers found that a cloth facecovering reduced emissions in all directions to about two feet compared to the four feet of emissions produced when coughing or speaking with no mask The reduction was even greater when wearing a surgical mask which reduced the distance coughing and speaking emissions travelled to only about half a footUK ministers rally around embattled Johnson for nowSenior British ministers on Thursday expressed support for Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and rejected demands he resign for attending a garden party during the countryrsquos first coronavirus lockdown Many other Conservatives held their tongues Johnson apologised in the House of Commons on Wednesday for attending a ldquobring your own boozerdquo party in the garden of the PMrsquos Downing Street office and residence in May 2020 when citizens were banned from meeting people3395785No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours312173462Total no of cases worldwide5501000Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns Hopkins14No of participants in the study that included 11 menThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever