Dangerous to suggest that Omicron is mild, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it is dangerous to suggest that Covid-19’s Omicron variant is ‘just a mild’ disease.

“Yes, oversimplified narratives can be dangerous. While we see lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Delta, to suggest that Omicron is “just a mild” disease is dangerous. Cases are astounding even with lower risk, we will see hospitals overwhelmed. Please be careful,” WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove was quoted as saying.

WHO has on several occasions warned governments to step up measures against the new surge in Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant.

The Omcircon variant of Covid is driving a huge spike in Covid infections across countries but the death rate is stable, WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

Last week, more than 15 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported to WHO from around the world – by far the most cases reported in a single week, reported IANS.