WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned at a press conference about worrying upward trends in some nations where hospitalization tolls surged in ICUs over the past 28 days.

Dr. Tedros regretted that Covid-19 vaccination levels remain worryingly low, adding that only two-thirds of the world’s population have been fully vaccinated, while only one-third has received a booster dose.

“Covid-19 may no longer be the acute crisis, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore it. Countries have outlaid on building their health systems to fight off Covid-19,” he added.

On that basis, WHO urged governments to sustain health surveillance services against Covid-19 in order to guarantee people can be protected, which also involves community protection and effective health care to prevent another pandemic.

WHO’s Covid-19 Response Officer, Maria van Kerkhove, announced that capacities for genomic sequencing PCR-based testing worldwide have been expanded.

Regarding immunization against this new coronavirus, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, assured that the sera currently available are effective and protect people, and are adapted to the epidemiological context of each country, as well as to the groups most at risk of serious illness, hospitalization or death.

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