The World Health Organization (WHO) warned of "worrying trends" in relation to COVID-19 as the northern winter approaches, calling for more surveillance and booster vaccinations.
The director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted in a virtual press conference that "worrying trends continue to be observed with respect to COVID-19 as the winter season approaches in the northern hemisphere," although he acknowledged that the data They are limited because many countries stopped communicating them.
The head of the WHO explained that "deaths are increasing in some parts of the Middle East and Asia." At the same time, "admissions to intensive care units are growing in Europe and hospitalizations are increasing in several regions."
However, only 43 countries, or less than a quarter of the WHO’s 194 member states, reported deaths to the United Nations health agency, and only 20 provided information on hospitalizations, he added.
"We estimate that there are currently hundreds of thousands of people hospitalized for Covid," stressed María Van Kerkhove, WHO technical officer for COVID-19. And she added: "This is worrying because we are going to have colder months in some countries. The People will spend more time together indoors, and airborne viruses like SARS-CoV-2 will benefit.”
Although there is currently no single dominant variant in the world, the Omicron EG.5 subvariant is increasing , said Dr. Tedros, who called on vulnerable people not to delay the booster vaccination.
