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WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 5:07
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 FEBRUARY 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, WHO headquarters exterior
01 FEBRUARY 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Since Omicron was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 million cases have been reported to WHO - more than were reported in the whole of 2020. We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths, in most regions of the world. We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines, and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary. Nothing could be further from the truth."
4. Wide shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"It’s premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes. WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2. This virus will continue to evolve, which is why we call on countries to continue testing, surveillance and sequencing. We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing. And we must continue to work to ensure all people have access to vaccines. At the same time, it’s also clear that as this virus evolves, so vaccines may need to evolve. Variants of SARS-CoV-2 may continue to escape neutralizing antibodies induced by vaccines against prior variants."
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Today, WHO published a new report on the burden of medical waste from the pandemic, threatening human and environmental health and exposing the need to improve waste management. Health workers and members of the public rely on huge amounts of personal protective equipment, tests, chemicals, syringes, needles, and other disposable products to protect ourselves and others. But after we’ve used it, most of it ends up as waste. 30 percent of health facilities globally, and 60 percent in the least developed countries, are not equipped to handle existing medical waste loads, let alone the additional COVID-19 load. This potentially exposes health workers to needle stick injuries, burns, infection, and affects communities living near poorly-managed landfills and waste disposal sites."
8. Wide shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical lead, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"But we are urging caution, because many countries have not gone through the peak of Omicron yet. Many countries have low levels of vaccination coverage, with very vulnerable individuals within their populations. So now is not the time to lift everything all at once. We have always urged, always urged caution in applying interventions, as well as lifting those interventions in a steady and in a slow way, piece by piece."
10. Wide shot, press room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Every country has to find its feet, know where it is, know where it wants to go and chart its path. You can look to the experience of others. You can look at what other countries are doing. But please don't just follow blindly what every other country is doing. Chart your own path, as Maria said, based on your current epidemiology, your demographics, your population at risk, your vaccination levels, your population immunity, your access to tools, the strength of your health service and each country can chart a path out of the pandemic by taking that approach."
12. Wide shot, press room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"I think it is a transition phase for many countries. Not every country in the same situation. Those countries who are making decisions to open up more broadly also need to be sure they have the capacity to reintroduce measures with community acceptance quickly if needed. So, if you open the doors quickly, you better be pretty well able to close it quickly as well. And therefore it is important that we keep communities informed and maybe ensure that communities understand that measures may have to be reintroduced."
14. Wide shot, press room
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said it is “premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory,” against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which he said is “dangerous” and continues to “evolve before our very eyes.”
At a press conference in Geneva today (01 Feb), Dr Tedros said, since the Omicron variant was first identified just 10 weeks ago, “almost 90 million cases have been reported to WHO - more than were reported in the whole of 2020.” He added, “We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths, in most regions of the world. We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines, and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Dr Tedros said WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2. He said, “This virus will continue to evolve, which is why we call on countries to continue testing, surveillance and sequencing. We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing. And we must continue to work to ensure all people have access to vaccines. At the same time, it’s also clear that as this virus evolves, so vaccines may need to evolve. Variants of SARS-CoV-2 may continue to escape neutralizing antibodies induced by vaccines against prior variants."
The WHO chief said his Organization published today a new report on the burden of medical waste from the pandemic, “threatening human and environmental health and exposing the need to improve waste management.” He said, “Health workers and members of the public rely on huge amounts of personal protective equipment, tests, chemicals, syringes, needles, and other disposable products to protect ourselves and others. But after we’ve used it, most of it ends up as waste. 30 percent of health facilities globally, and 60 percent in the least developed countries, are not equipped to handle existing medical waste loads, let alone the additional COVID-19 load. This potentially exposes health workers to needle stick injuries, burns, infection, and affects communities living near poorly-managed landfills and waste disposal sites."
WHO’s COVID-19 Technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, urged caution as many countries have not gone through the peak of Omicron yet. She added, “Many countries have low levels of vaccination coverage, with very vulnerable individuals within their populations. So now is not the time to lift everything all at once. We have always urged, always urged caution in applying interventions, as well as lifting those interventions in a steady and in a slow way, piece by piece."
Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said every country has to “find its feet, know where it is, know where it wants to go and chart its path.” He said, “You can look to the experience of others. You can look at what other countries are doing. But please don't just follow blindly what every other country is doing. Chart your own path, as Maria said, based on your current epidemiology, your demographics, your population at risk, your vaccination levels, your population immunity, your access to tools, the strength of your health service and each country can chart a path out of the pandemic by taking that approach."
Dr Ryan said this was a transition phase for many countries and noted that not every country in the same situation. He said, “Those countries who are making decisions to open up more broadly also need to be sure they have the capacity to reintroduce measures with community acceptance quickly if needed. So, if you open the doors quickly, you better be pretty well able to close it quickly as well. And therefore, it is important that we keep communities informed and maybe ensure that communities understand that measures may have to be reintroduced."
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