No strain of coronavirus has so far spread as fast as Omicron, announced the World Health Organization (WHO), which estimates that all countries have already been affected by this strain.
"So far, 77 countries have reported cases of infection with the omicron strain, but the reality is that omicron is probably present in most countries even though it has not yet been detected. Omicron is spreading at a rate that we have never seen before with any other strain," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebrejezus at a press conference.
The head of the WHO said that they are worried because people think omicron is benign.
"Although omicron causes less serious illness, the number of cases could overwhelm unprepared health systems," he said.
He also warned the international community that vaccines alone will not enable a way out of this crisis and called for the use of all existing anti-covid tools such as wearing masks, regular ventilation of closed rooms and respectful distances.
"Do it all, do it coherently, do it well," Tedros said.
He also said that the emergence of Omicron has prompted some countries to offer additional booster doses of the vaccine for their adult population, even though there is no evidence of the effectiveness of those boosters against that strain of the virus.
The WHO fears that these programs will contribute to the accumulation of anti-covid vaccines in rich countries, as it has been until now, and make vaccination difficult in poor countries.
He said that he wants to make it clear that the WHO is not against booster doses of vaccines, but that it is against vaccine inequality.
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