Reports On Omicron Being A Mild Variant Misleading, Says WHO Chief

Bhubaneswar: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has refuted the reports that Omicron variant of the coronavirus is a mild virus and termed the claims as misleading.

“Omicron may be less severe, on average, but the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading, hurts the overall response and costs more lives,” the Free Press Journal quoted WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying on Tuesday.

“Make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalisations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities,” he added.

The WHO chief further said next few weeks will be really critical for health systems in many countries. “I urge everyone to do their best to reduce risk of infection so that you can help take pressure off the system,” he added.

The impact of the current wave can be significantly reduced by sharing and using health tools effectively and implementing public health and social measures, Tedros said.

It may be noted that as the third wave of COVID has gripped the world, the global coronavirus caseload has crossed 333.5 million and the toll due to the disease is more than 5.55 million.

India on Wednesday reported 2,82,970 fresh COVID cases in the last 24 hours registering a rise of over 18% over the previous day’s count.