A mask-on notice is seen at a train station in Sydney, Australia, on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
Despite a "welcome decline in reported (COVID-19) deaths globally ... with colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere, it's reasonable to expect an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists here on Wednesday.
GENEVA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that despite current downward trend in new COVID-19 cases, more hospitalizations and deaths are expected in the coming months as colder weather approaches.
Despite a "welcome decline in reported (COVID-19) deaths globally ... with colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere, it's reasonable to expect an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists here on Wednesday.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gives a speech via video during a virtual Briefing on China's Experience on COVID-19 Response in Beijing, capital of China, March 12, 2020. (National Health Commission/Handout via Xinhua)
According to the WHO's latest COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, the number of new weekly cases decreased by 9 percent to around 5.3 million during the week of Aug. 15 to Aug. 21 as compared to the previous week. The number of new weekly deaths also decreased by 15 percent as compared to the previous week, with over 14,000 fatalities reported.
The WHO chief said that the current subvariants of Omicron are more transmissible than their predecessors, and the risk of the emergence of even more transmissible and more dangerous variants remains. However, vaccination coverage among the most at-risk people remains too low, especially in low-income countries.
Children leave after receiving doses of CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese laboratory Sinovac at a vaccination site in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on July 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Tiancong)
"Even in high-income countries, 30 percent of health workers and 20 percent of older people remain unvaccinated. These vaccination gaps pose a risk to all of us. So, please get vaccinated if you are not, and get a booster if it's recommended that you have one," Tedros said, recommending that people wear masks in crowded indoor spaces.
"Living with COVID-19 doesn't mean pretending the pandemic is over... Likewise, pretending a deadly virus is not circulating is a huge risk. Living with COVID-19 means taking the simple precautions to avoid getting infected, or if you are infected, from getting seriously sick or dying," he said, calling on all governments to update their policies to make best use of the life-saving tools that exist to manage COVID-19 responsibly.
A nurse administers a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a man in Prague, Czech Republic, on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Dana Kesnerova/Xinhua)■
