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Addis Ababa: After a six-week surge, Africa’s fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic driven primarily by the Omicron variant, is flattening, marking the shortest-lived surge to date in the continent where cumulative cases have now exceeded 10 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Weekly cases having plateaued in the week ending on January 9, […]
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Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that current Covid-19 vaccines may need to be updated if they are to provide continued protection against emerging variants, including Omicron. WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC), a group of 18 experts, on Tuesday said that although current vaccines provide a high level of […]
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According to Hans Henri P Kluge, the WHO's Regional Director for Europe, Omicron variant can evade previous immunity in people.
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The strain is also known as the 'IHU' variant because it was first identified by academics at the IHU Mediterranee Infection institute in Marseille, France, reports Xinhua news agency.
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Kabul: The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan said that the country does not have equipment to detect Omicron, adding that it has asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide testing machines for the new fast-spreading Covid-19 variant. Both Pakistan and Iran, the two countries that share borders with Afghanistan, have confirmed cases of the new […]
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Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems. Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said at a […]
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Geneva: The overall risk associated with the Omicron variant remains ‘very high’ which could cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said on Tuesday that “The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very […]
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Geneva: Blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the Covid-19 pandemic rather than ending it, as a result of unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing that “diverting supply to countries already having […]
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Geneva: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has called on the world to pull together to end the Covid-19 pandemic within the next year. Addressing reporters here on Monday, Tedros said the “fastest way” to get back to normal is to make “hard decisions,” this festive season amid the Omicron Covid-19 […]
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New Delhi: The hyper mutated Omicron variant of Covid-19 has now spread to about 89 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday. Omicron is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations, including 26-32 in the spike protein, some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential […]
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New Delhi: With seven countries in the South-East Asia Region confirming cases of new COVID-19 variant Omicron, the World Health Organization on Saturday stressed on urgent scale-up of public health and social measures to curtail its further spread. Countries can and must prevent the spread of Omicron with proven health and social measures, Regional Director, […]
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New Delhi: The World Health Organisation on Friday approved emergency use listing of Covid vaccine Covovax, produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax and part of the Covax facility portfolio. “This is yet another milestone in our fight against Covid-19. Covovax is now WHO approved for emergency use, showing excellent safety […]
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New Delhi: As many as 101 positive cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 11 States and union territories so far, the government said on Friday and advised people to keep new year celebrations at low intensity. It said that though daily Covid-19 cases are below 10,000 for the past […]
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New Delhi: The Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization has said. WHO Director General Tedros A. Ghebreyesus said that a total of 77 countries have reported Omicron cases so far but the reality is that this variant is probably yet to be detected in some countries. “Omicron is spreading […]
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Johannesburg: While Covid cases in South Africa driven by the super mutant Omicron variant have surged 255 per cent in the last week, the infections are showing milder symptoms than seen in the last three waves, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO, Africa currently accounted for 46 per cent of […]
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New Delhi: Imposing lockdown to curtail transmission of Omicron could prove to be very costly and should be used as a last resort, according to the World Health Organisation. The new super mutant Omicron Covid variant, which contains more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that the virus uses to infect human cells, has […]
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Geneva: The World Health Organisation warned Monday that the global risk from the omicron variant is “very high” based on the early evidence, saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with “severe consequences.” The assessment from the U.N. health agency, contained in a technical paper issued to member states, amounted to WHO’s strongest, most […]
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The overall global risk related to the new VOC Omicron is assessed as very high. Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage
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New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the new Covid variant detected in southern Africa this week as the ‘Variant of Concern’ following the Technical Advisory Group meeting on Friday. “Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be […]
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The WHO's Technical Advisory Group in a meeting on Tuesday agreed upon to conduct the final risk assessment after receiving additional data from manufacturer.
