COVID-19
Patungo na sa “pandemic endgame” ang bansang Europe – WHO Europe director
Nasa bagong phase na ang Covid-19 pandemic dahil sa Omicron variant, at maaring ito na ang magdadala ng katapusan ng pandemiya sa Europe, ayon sa World Health Organization Europe director.
“It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” sinabi ni Hans Kluge sa panayam ng Agence France-Presse.
Dagdag niya na maaring ma-infect ng Omicron ang 60% ng mga Europeans pagdating ng Marso.
Gayunpaman, nang matapos ang kasalukuyang surge ng Omicron sa Europe, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection, and also lowering seasonality.”
“We anticipate that there will be a period of quiet before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back,” sabi ni Kluge.
Covid-19 cases continue to decline
Samantala, nagpahayag ng similar optimism si Top US scientist Anthony Fauci.
Sinabi niya sa isang ABS News Talk Show na ang Covid-19 cases sa ilang bahagi ng United States ay patuloy na bumababa “rather sharply,” dahil dito, “things are looking good,”
Pahayag ni Fauci na kung magpapatuloy ang kamakailang pagbaba ng bilang ng kaso sa mga areas tulad ng hilagang-silangan ng US, “I believe that you will start to see a turnaround throughout the entire country.”
Naiulat rin ng WHO regional office sa Africa na noong nakaraang linggo, bumaba rin ang bilang ng kaso ng Covid-19 sa region. Sa unang pagkakataon mula nang maabot ng virus ang peak nito, bumababa na rin ang bilang ng namamatay.
Too soon to be an endemic
Batay sa mga pag-aaral, mas contagious ang Omicron variant kumpara sa Delta, ngunit, less severe ang infection nito sa mga nabakunahan. Dahil dito, marami ng umaasa na mag-shishift na ang Covid-19 mula sa pandemic patungo sa endemic illness na lamang tulad ng seasonal flu.
Ngunit, nagbabala si Kluge, “it’s still too early to consider Covid-19 endemic.”
“There is a lot of talk about endemic but endemic means … that it is possible to predict what’s going to happen. This virus has surprised (us) more than once so we have to be very careful,” aniya.
Dagdag niya, maaring may iba pang variants ang mag-emerge.
Nang tanungin siya kung necessary ba ang 4th doses para matapos na ang pandemiya, sinabi niya lang na, “we know that that immunity jumps up after each shot of the vaccine.”
(Agence France-Presse)