“We keep asking China to provide more Fast, frequent, reliable data hospitalization and death, as well as More comprehensive, real-time virus sequencing,” he speak, speech from Geneva.
WHO concerns about the risks to life in the world’s most populous country and reiterates the importance of increasing immunization coverage, including booster doses, especially for vulnerable groups such as elder.
Comprehensive data needed
“With issuance in China so high and no comprehensive data available – as I said last week, it is understandable that some countries are taking steps they believe will protect your citizens,” Tedros added.
Several countries, including the United States, from tomorrow announced new COVID testing requirements for travelers from China to enter the country, amid concerns about the spread of the virus. latest variations.
Speaking after the meeting, WHO Emergencies Director Dr Mike Ryan also stressed the need for more information from the Chinese authorities.
“We know that in all countries there are very frequent difficulties in recording discharges, admissions and utilization of ICU facilities (intensive care units).
“We believe the current numbers are published from China represent the real impact of the disease in terms of hospitalizations, in terms of ICU admissions, and especially in terms of deaths.”
Meetings with experts
The WHO has held high-level meetings with Chinese authorities over the past week to discuss the increase in cases and hospitalizations.
The Technical Advisory Group on Virus Development (TAG-VE) also meet on Tuesday with Chinese experts to discuss the situation.
During that meeting, scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention presented data from what they described as imported and locally purchased. Coronavirus infection.
The analysis revealed that most viruses circulating in the country belonged to two Omicron strains, BA.5.2 and BF.7, accounting for 97.5% of all local infections, as well as several other known Omicron subtypes.
“These variants are known and circulating in other countries, and there are currently no new variants reported by the Chinese CDC,” TAG-VE said in a statement on Wednesday.
To date, 773 sequences from mainland China have been submitted to a virus database operated by the global science initiative GISAID.
Most, 564, were collected after December 1. Of these, only 95 cases were labeled as locally acquired, while 187 cases were imported and 261 cases were “not imported” provide this information”.
The majority of locally acquired cases, 95%, belong to two Omicron lineages.
“This is consistent with the genomes of travelers from China submitted by other countries to the GISAID EpiCoV database. No new variants or mutations of known significance were recorded in the publicly available sequence data,” the statement said.
Vulnerable communities in Paraguay are being vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu.
Pandemic threat remains
At the beginning of the briefing, Tedros noted that the pandemic is now in its fourth year, and that although progress has been made, it remains a threat to health, the economy and society.
“We are really concerned about the current COVID-19 epidemiological picture, with both Violent transmission in some parts of the world and a recombinant sub-variant is spreading rapidly,” he said.
Tedros reports that COVID-19 is in decline for most of 2021, citing factors such as a worldwide increase in vaccinations and the identification of new lifesaving antiviral drugs.
10,000 deaths per week
However, large inequalities remain in access to testing, treatment and vaccination.
“Every week, about 10,000 people die from COVID-19 that we know of. The real number is likely much higher,” he said.
Furthermore, the XBB.1.5 sub-variant of Omicron is on the rise in the United States and Europe and has been identified in nearly 30 countries.
Dr. Maria Van Kherkove, WHO Technical Lead on COVID-19, said XBB.1.5 was first detected in October 2022. It is the subvariant with the highest transmissibility.
Continue monitoring
“We expect more waves of infections around the world, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into further waves of deaths as our countermeasures continue to have an impact,” she said. effective.
Meanwhile, TAG-VE experts are also carrying out a related risk assessment which will be published in the coming days.
Dr. Van Kherkove stressed the importance of continuing worldwide COVID-19 surveillance to track known sub-variants circulating.
Last month, more than 13 million cases of the disease were reported, although WHO believes the number is higher.
“But more worryingly, we had death increased by 15% in the last month and again, we know that that’s an understatement Because of the delays in reporting, and with the holiday period and mix, those trends are expected to continue, Dr. Van Kherkove said.
Ebola Progress in Uganda
In his statement, Tedros expressed hope that the pandemic will be defeated by 2023.
“COVID-19 will certainly remain a major topic of discussion, but I believe and hope that with the right efforts this will be the year the public health emergency officially ends,” he said
He also pointed to the good news from Uganda, which is fighting the epidemic. Ebola outbreak since September.
No cases have been detected since November 27, and if this holds, the outbreak will soon be declared over.
WHO will also celebrate its 75th anniversary this year, and Tedros said more details will be shared in the coming weeks.
