Experience of Delta can help in fighting Omicron
WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) officials in the Western Pacific have said border closures may buy time to deal with the Omicron coronavirus variant, but measures put in place and experience gained in dealing with the Delta variant should remain the foundation for fighting the pandemic.
While a few countries in the region are facing surges, Covid-19 cases and deaths in many others have decreased and plateaued, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific Dr Takeshi Kasai told reporters.
In a virtual news conference broadcast from Manila, Philippines, Dr Kasai said: “Border control can delay the virus coming in and buy time. But every country and every community must prepare for new surges in cases. The positive news in all of this is that none of the information we have currently about Omicron suggests we need to change the directions of our response.”
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, if it can make people more seriously ill, or whether it can thwart the vaccine.
Dr Kasai said Omicron has been designated a variant of concern because of the number of mutations and because early information suggests it may be more transmissible than other variants of the virus.
More testing and observation is necessary, he said.
Thus far, four countries and regions in the Western Pacific – Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea – have reported cases of the Omicron variant, said WHO regional emergency director Dr Babatunde Olowokure.
That number is likely to go up as more cases are discovered globally, Dr Olowokure said.
Singapore and Malaysia have also reported their first cases in the last 24 hours, along with India, which falls just outside the WHO Western Pacific Region.
In the Philippines, government epidemiology bureau director Althea de Guzman said on Friday that one of 71 people located by authorities after arriving in the country from South Africa in the last two weeks had tested positive for the coronavirus, and still more tests are under way to determine if it is the Omicron variant.
The emergence of Omicron is of particular concern for organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, now just weeks away.
Beijing is adopting a “series of comprehensive prevention and control measures to minimise the risk of the spread of imported outbreaks, effectively protect the health of all participants and people of the hosting cities, and ensure that the competition runs safely and smoothly as scheduled,” Beijing Games spokesperson Zhao Weidong said.
China has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for Covid-19 transmission and has some of the world’s strictest border controls.
Games participants will have to live and compete inside a bubble and only spectators who are residents of China and have been vaccinated and tested will be permitted at venues.
Beijing’s measures would seem to be adequate for now.