WHO identifies COVID-19 delta variant in 85 countries

20

The Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has expressed concern over the COVID-19’s delta variant, which he called “the most transmissible” mutation to date.

Ghebreyesus told journalists at a regular briefing on Friday that delta co had been identified in at least 85 countries and is “spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations”.

“As some countries ease public health and social measures, we are starting to see increases in transmission around the world,” he said.

A surge in cases translates to more hospitalisations, which continue to stretch healthcare workers and health systems while putting more at risk of death, according to the WHO chief.
Ghebreyesus acknowledged that new variants were expected, saying “that’s what viruses do, they evolve” and stressed that by preventing transmission, we can stem the emergence of variants.

“It’s quite simple: more transmission, more variants. Less transmission, less variants,” he said, noting that it is even more urgent today to prevent transmission by consistently using public health and social measures along with vaccines.

“This is why WHO has been saying for at least a year that vaccines must be distributed equitably, to protect health workers and the most vulnerable,” he said.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead on COVID-19, said “the world situation is very fragile” and “countries must be cautious”.

Noting that COVID-19 delta has proved “extremely contagious in any country it reaches”, she cautioned that it is being transmitted among unvaccinated people “even in countries with high percentages of immunisation”.

“The delta variant can make the epidemic curve exponentially,” Kerkhove said.

But delta is not the only worrying mutation. According to the WHO expert, “there is a constellation of variants circulating,” including sub-variants, four of which are very worrying.

“Vaccines and treatments work, but these viruses can evolve and the existing shots “may not work” over time, emphasising again that to minimise outbreaks, everyone must continue to maintain public health measures.

“One of the most important ways WHO coordinates the response to COVID-19 and other emergencies is through its global network of emergency medical teams (EMTs).

“When crises strike, WHO mobilises these health professionals to support national responses, treat patients, provide training and supervision, and ensure quality-care standards.

“Globally, WHO has certified teams from 20 countries, who have gone through a rigorous process of quality assurance to ensure they meet internationally agreed standards,’’ he said.

The UN agency chief said that another 87 countries were either in the process of being WHO certified, or were developing quality-assurance systems nationally.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, he said that WHO has helped deploy over 108 international EMTs and experts worldwide.

“Last week, WHO and partners published new EMT deployment standards for a range of situations, from natural disasters to epidemics and conflict situations.

“This represents a major step forward in ensuring emergency medical teams meet shared standards for quality of care, whether they are deployed nationally or internationally,” he said. (NAN)

20 thoughts on “WHO identifies COVID-19 delta variant in 85 countries

  1. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
    The text in your article seem to be running
    off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a format issue
    or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured
    I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though!
    Hope you get the issue solved soon. Cheers

  2. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about
    this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
    I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message
    home a bit, but other than that, this is great blog.
    An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.

  3. My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
    I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But
    he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a number of websites for about a
    year and am anxious about switching to another platform.
    I have heard very good things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it?

    Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

  4. What i don’t realize is in reality how you are not really a
    lot more well-liked than you might be now. You’re very intelligent.
    You recognize thus significantly in relation to this matter, made
    me in my view imagine it from a lot of varied angles.
    Its like men and women are not fascinated except it’s
    one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your individual stuffs excellent.
    At all times handle it up!

  5. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.

    You obviously know what youre talking about,
    why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could
    be giving us something informative to read?

  6. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been conducting a little research on this.
    And he in fact ordered me dinner simply because I stumbled upon it for
    him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
    But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this topic here on your website.

  7. Hmm it seems like your site ate my first comment (it was
    super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what
    I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
    I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing.
    Do you have any recommendations for novice blog writers?
    I’d really appreciate it.

  8. Hey there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance
    from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog?
    I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick.
    I’m thinking about making my own but I’m not sure where to
    begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Appreciate it

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *