WHO says pandemic is ‘far from over’ with ‘high probability’ of dangerous new variants of Covid

The WHO has warned that there is a “high probability” of dangerous variants of Covid spreading around the world as they have said the pandemic “is far from over.”

An emergency committee from the world health body said the mutant strains would make it even more difficult to end the pandemic.

In a statement, the committee said: “Despite national, regional and global efforts, the pandemic is far from over.

“The pandemic continues to evolve with four worrying variants that dominate the global epidemiology.

“The committee recognized the high likelihood of the emergence and global spread of new, potentially more dangerous variants that may be even more difficult to control.”

The chairman of the commission, Didier Houssin, admitted to journalists that “recent trends are worrying”.

He said a year and a half after the WHO first declared a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – its highest alert level – “we are still chasing this virus and the virus is still chasing us ”.

For now, four worrying variants of Covid-19 dominate the global pandemic picture, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and especially the rapidly spreading Delta variant first detected in India.

But the committee warned that the worst could happen, stressing “the high likelihood of the emergence and global spread of worrying and possibly more dangerous new variants that could be even more difficult to control.”

The WHO says the variants are “of concern” when considered more transmissible, more deadly, or have the potential to bypass certain vaccine protections.

Meanwhile, the WHO chief today implored China to be more transparent about the origins of the pandemic.

Investigations in Wuhan earlier this year were hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of the virus spread.

A team spent four weeks in and around the city with Chinese researchers and said in a joint report in March that the virus was likely transmitted from bats to humans via another animal.

He said “introduction through a laboratory incident was considered an extremely unlikely route,” but countries, including the United States and some scientists, were not happy.

“We call on China to be transparent and open and to cooperate,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Thursday.

“We owe it to the millions of people who have suffered and the millions of people who have died to know what happened,” he said.

China has called the theory that the virus may have escaped a laboratory in Wuhan as absurd and has repeatedly said that the “politicization” of the problem will hamper investigations.

Tedros will inform WHO’s 194 member states on Friday of a proposal for a second phase study, said Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert.

“We look forward to working with our Chinese counterparts on this process and the director general will present measures to member states at a meeting tomorrow, Friday,” he told reporters.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who spoke to Tedros on Thursday, urged China to allow further investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying more information was needed.

Spahn, speaking during a visit to WHO headquarters in Geneva, also announced a donation of 260 million euros ($ 307 million) to the WHO ACT-Accelerator program, which aims to ensure that the whole world, including the poorest countries, receive COVID-19 vaccines and tests.