Covid 'Tsunami' Will Drive Health Systems Towards Collapse: WHO

WHO has warned that a tsunami of Coronavirus cases from both variants Omicron and Delta 'will push health systems towards the brink of collapse.'

Director general of World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Pic Courtesy: AFP

New Delhi: The World Health Organization warned that a tsunami of Coronavirus cases from both variants Omicron and Delta 'will push health systems towards the brink of collapse.' Not long ago, the WHO had earlier warned that the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 poses a "very high" risk and could affect the world's health system in a very serious manner.

"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases. This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference, AFP reported.

The WHO said the new variants of Covid-19, Delta and Omicron, are the main reason behind the increase in hospitalisations and deaths.

"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse."

The WHO Director General also said that apart from surge in new Covid patients, huge number of health workers falling ill with Coronavirus is also one of the reasons behind the pressure on health systems

"The unvaccinated are many times more at risk of dying from either variant," he added.

Meanwhile, record-breaking cases of Covid-19 were reported this week from all over the world. The highly transmissible variant Omicron is causing a large number of cases in many countries, and 37 percent more cases were reported globally between December 22 and 28 than the previous week, according to AFP news agency based on a national database.