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The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that COVID-19 is surging worldwide and is unlikely to decline in the immediate future.
Addressing journalists, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention said, “Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the percentage of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2, has been rising over several weeks.”
Though overall test positivity is above 10%, this fluctuates per region. Van Kerkhove warns that in Europe, the proportion of test positivity is above 20%.
But these figures may hide higher rates of infection, as wastewater surveillance indicates the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in some instances, is up to 20 times higher than figures suggest.
The UN agency also warned that there is a growing risk that more severe variants could emerge, as the virus continues to evolve and spread, possibly resulting in a variant that is unresponsive to medical intervention.
“With such a large circulation, if we were to have a variant that would be more severe, then the susceptibility of the at-risk populations to develop severe disease is huge,” warned Van Kerkhove.
Hospital admissions are still being much lower than during the peak of the pandemic, but the WHO is urging governments to strengthen vaccination campaigns, making sure that the highest risk groups receive boosters every twelve months.
“As individuals it is important to take measures to reduce risk of infection and severe disease, including ensuring that you have had a COVID-19 vaccination dose in the last 12 months, especially, if you are in an at-risk group,” stressed Van Kerkhove.
Vaccine production has declined in the last year and a half, with the number of producers decreasing. There is hope that nasal vaccines, which are still under development, could potentially address transmission, reducing the risk of further variants, infection and severe disease.
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