The World Health Organization on Friday warned of the need to deal with the mutated Delta from the Corona virus as a “warning” that requires intensifying efforts to prevent the emergence of more dangerous mutations, after it caused the emergence of new waves in several countries around the world.
"Delta is a warning that tells us that the virus is evolving, but it is also a call to action, to do something before more dangerous forms of the mutant appear," said Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO´s emergency officer in charge of emergencies, during a press conference in Geneva.
At the same time, Ryan sought to minimize the consequences of the outbreak of the new mutated virus, which, since its outbreak in late 2019, has killed more than four million people around the world.
He explained, "The same measures that we have previously applied will stop this virus. It will stop the mutated Delta, especially if we add vaccinations to it, warning of the need to “work hard because the virus has become more virulent and faster,” with the importance of maintaining effective preventive protection measures.
A person with the delta mutant can transmit the infection to a larger number of people, according to Ryan, “unless we stop it by continuing to apply measures that reduce its transmission, such as social distancing, wearing a mask and washing hands, and making sure that we do not spend a long time with a large number of people in places poorly ventilated.”
At the same time, he pointed out that the astonishing increase in the number of infections, with mild symptoms often appearing in people who received the vaccine, creates a feeling of helplessness.
“On average, in five of the six WHO regions, COVID-19 infections have increased by eighty percent, almost doubling, in the last four weeks,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his opening remarks at the conference.
"In Africa, during the same period, deaths increased by eighty percent," he added.
The new numbers will not change the organization´s strategy, according to Ryan, who said that "it is still in place, but we have to implement it more effectively than we have done so far, and this also means delivering more vaccines."
He stressed that vaccines are the "only magic solution", and "the problem is that we do not distribute them in the same way around the world," considering that "we are working against ourselves."
For months, the organization has reiterated that the best way to combat the epidemic is to urgently distribute vaccines around the world, which is still far from being achieved.
