JUST IN: No Evidence Of Severe Disease In New Variant Of Covid-19 – WHO DG
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom, has said that there was no evidence that the new variant of covid-19 causes severe disease.
“In the past few days, there have been reports of new variants of the #COVID19 virus in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Viruses mutate over time; that’s natural and expected.
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“The #UK has reported that this new variant transmits more easily but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality,” he said during a press briefing in Geneva.
This is coming even as many countries had banned international flights to and from the UK over the announcement of the new variant by its government.
UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, had stressed that the new variant may be “up to 70% more transmissible”.
On his part, Adhanom said that the organization was studying the changes in the SARs-like virus, but urged everyone to contain the pandemic by complying with the public health advisory on covid-19.
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“WHO is working with scientists to understand how these genetic changes affect how the virus behaves.The bottom line is that we need to suppress transmission of all SARS-COV-2 viruses as quickly as we can.
“The more we allow it to spread, the more opportunity it has to change. I can’t stress enough – to all governments and all people – how important it is to take the necessary precautions to limit transmission right now.
“This year has been difficult for all of us, but for #healthworkers it has never been harder. At this festive time of year for so many, the best gift for health workers is for leaders and citizens to take precautions that ease the pressure on health systems”
