WHO on loosening of COVID-19 restrictions: ‘We can’t will it away’

World Health Organization (WHO) leaders on Thursday stated that the world wants to stay vigilant about COVID-19 – whilst pandemic tendencies in some international locations look like heading in a optimistic course. 

In a Q&A, Dr. Mike Ryan and Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove expressed concern over public notion of the pandemic as winding down. 

In latest months, well being leaders have eased or loosened restrictions and measures like mask-wearing or requiring proof of vaccination in opposition to the virus. 

Ryan, the manager director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, stated there are nonetheless eventualities the place the world might “reset” the pandemic. 

He stated that’s “within our control” – a alternative in direction of a greater future, as an alternative of future.

While normalization is one thing the company needs to see, Ryan famous, what they “don’t want to see is a situation where we minimize the uncertainty we’re facing.”

“Or, we minimize potential scenarios in which things can go wrong. We don’t want people sitting up day and night worried about what’s going to happen with SARS-CoV-2, or COVID,” he acknowledged. 

And so, the world wants to take care of vigilance and “keep pushing,” Ryan added, as a result of it’s not by way of a part the place coronavirus might be regarded “as any other virus.” 

“Any other virus isn’t killing 52,000 people around the world at a low estimate and 10 million cases every week. That’s not just any other virus,” he remarked. 

Van Kerkhove, the WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead, stated that she was frightened a couple of lower in testing. 

The infectious disease epidemiologist additionally urged the world to stay vigilant as “[we are] still in this flood.” 

“What we don’t want to be doing is right now live through inaction because we’re tired of it,” Van Kerkhove remarked. 

“You’ll continue to hear our frustration because we are all living this every day and we want this over as much as you do, but we can’t will it away and we’re still very much in this flood,” she stated.

To date, data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center exhibits that greater than six million COVID-related deaths have been reported worldwide, with greater than 967,000 within the U.S. 

However, pandemic deaths are more likely to be underreported, with a study out on Thursday discovering that 18 million folks had died because of the pandemic by the tip of 2021.