The Director-General of the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that the COVID-19 pandemic "is not over yet," cautioning against the belief that the Omicron variant does not cause harm. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated in a press conference in Geneva: "Omicron continues to sweep the world. Don't be mistaken, Omicron causes hospitalizations and leads to deaths, and even less severe cases strain healthcare institutions." He added, "This pandemic is not over, and given the widespread transmission of Omicron globally, the emergence of new variants is likely."
On January 11, the European Medicines Agency noted that while the disease remains in a pandemic phase, the spread of the Omicron variant will turn COVID-19 into an endemic disease that humanity can learn to adapt to. Marco Cavaleri, the head of vaccine strategy at the Amsterdam-based agency, said: "With increasing immunity among the population — and with Omicron there will be much natural immunity in addition to vaccination — we will quickly move towards a scenario closer to endemicity."
In Switzerland, Health Minister Alain Berset considered last week that the Omicron variant might be the "beginning of the end" of the pandemic. However, the head of the World Health Organization appeared more cautious, reaffirming that the Omicron variant is dangerous. He told reporters on Tuesday: "In some countries, it seems that COVID cases have peaked, which raises hope that the worst of the recent wave is behind us, but no country has been rid of the pandemic."
But Ghebreyesus warned that "more infections mean more patients in hospitals, more deaths, and more people unable to work, including teachers and healthcare staff, and greater risks of new variants emerging that are more transmissible and cause more deaths than Omicron." He expressed particular concern that many countries have low vaccination rates against COVID, stating: "People are more susceptible to severe forms of illness or death if they are unvaccinated." Tedros explained: "Omicron may be less severe, but claims that it is a mild disease are misleading, hinder the overall response, and cause more loss of life."
