WHO warns ‘premature’ to declare victory over COVID

WHO warns ‘premature’ to declare victory over COVID

GENEVA: The World Health Organization chief warned yesterday that it is too early for countries to either declare victory over COVID-19 or give up attempts to halt transmission. “It is premature for any country to either surrender or to declare victory,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. “This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes.” His comment came as Denmark yesterday became the first EU country to lift all of its domestic COVID curbs despite record numbers of cases of the milder Omicron variant, with a number of other countries eying similar moves.

Kuwait yesterday reported 6,436 new COVID-19 cases, in addition to two deaths and 5,658 recoveries. The number of patients in ICUs went down from 91 on Monday to 90 yesterday. The number of patients in hospital rose from 480 to 482, while total active cases increased from 51,718 to 52,467. The percentage of daily new cases to new tests dropped from 20.7 percent to 17.7 percent, while the percentage of recovery remained unchanged at 90 percent.

“We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is