We need to be prepared for new Covid-19 waves, says WHO Chief Scientist

Be prepared for fresh Covid19 waves WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan has warned amid the onset of new variants that are more transmissible immune evasive and growing concerns about greater hospitalisationsThere is mounting evidence that suggests that Omicron subvariants BA4 and BA5 are infecting people who have been vaccinatedWe need to be prepared for these Covid19 waves each new variant will be more transmissible amp immune evasive higher numbers infected will translate into greater hospitalisations amp sickness All countries must have a datadriven plan to quickly respond to changing situations Swaminathan tweeted on ThursdayShe was tweeting in response to a Twitter thread by Senior Advisor at World Bank Group Philip Schellekens who said that we are seeing a global Uturn in Covid19 mortality Following months of decline it has started to rise again which did not come as a big surprise given properties of BA5 relaxed attitudes towards infection control and 34 of the world not being uptodate on vaccinationAlso Read INSACOG confirms first case of Omicron subvariant BA4 in IndiaSchellekens said the pandemic is intensifying in highincome countries and uppermiddleincome countries are also seeing an uptick in new casesHe noted that the US France Italy Germany and Japan are the drivers of the global surge among highincome countries and Brazil an uppermiddleincome country is leading the developing worldMortality rates have started to edge up slightly he said adding that the US and Brazil are currently the main contributors to global mortalityWHO DirectorGeneral Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference earlier this week said he is concerned that cases of Covid19 are climbing putting further pressure on stretched health systems and healthcare workersI am also concerned about the increasing trend of deaths he saidThe WHO chief noted that the subvariants of Omicron like BA4 and BA5 continue to drive waves of cases hospitalisation and death around the worldSurveillance has also reduced significantly including testing and sequencing making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission disease characteristics and the effectiveness of countermeasuresThe virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity in terms of both hospitalisation for acute cases and the expanding number of people with post Covid19 condition often referred to as longCovid he saidNew waves of the virus demonstrate again that the Covid19 is nowhere near over As the virus pushes at us we must push back Ghebreyesus saidThe WHO Covid19 Weekly Epidemiological Update released this week said that globally the number of weekly cases increased for the fifth consecutive week after a declining trend since the last peak in March 2022During the week of July 4 to 10 over 57 million new cases were reported a 6 per cent increase as compared to the previous weekThe number of new weekly deaths was similar to the figure reported during the previous week with over 9800 fatalities reported to the WHOAs of July 10 just under 553 million confirmed cases and over 63 million deaths have been reported globallyThese trends should be interpreted with caution as several countries have been progressively changing Covid19 testing strategies resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently lower numbers of cases detected it saidAt the country level the highest number of new weekly cases were reported from France 771260 new cases 6 per cent the United States of America 722924 new cases 6 per cent Italy 661984 new cases 30 per cent Germany 561136 new cases 9 per cent and Brazil 396781 new cases 3 per centThe highest number of new weekly deaths were reported from the US 1987 new deaths 19 per cent Brazil 1639 new deaths 11 per cent China 692 new deaths 8 per cent Spain 619 new deaths 98 per cent and Italy 574 new deaths 33 per centThe update said that the SouthEast Asia region has been reporting an increasing trend in cases since early June with over 164000 new cases reported a 5 per cent increase as compared to the previous weekFour of the 10 countries for which data were available showed an increase in the number of new cases of 20 per cent or greater with some of the greatest proportional increases observed in Nepal and Sri LankaThe highest numbers of new cases in the region were reported from India 120222 new cases a 7 per cent increase Indonesia 17388 new cases 29 per cent and Thailand 14938 new cases 6 per centThe number of new weekly deaths in the region increased by 23 per cent as compared to the previous week with over 400 new deaths reportedThe highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India 229 new deaths 15 per cent Thailand 135 new deaths 25 per cent and Indonesia 42 new deaths 31 per centThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability 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