Although it seems that other things that are happening around the world have overshadowed the issue of the Covid pandemic, the truth is that the virus continues to do its thing, just what is happening in some parts of the planet is enough, such as China or the United Kingdom, where outbreaks have been registered again that have forced the authorities to once again order confinements.
Given the situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently evaluated which be the course to be followed by the Covid pandemic, thus suggesting 3 possible scenarios of how this could come to an end.
The first of these could be that the coronavirus continues its natural evolution but the disease it generates can lose strength due to the high immunity generated by the population, either due to vaccination or because they have already been infected.
“Spikes in cases and deaths may occur as the immune d is declining, which will require regular (vaccine) boosters for vulnerable populations,” the organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a press conference.
Of all the scenarios, the better it would be in which less serious variants arise and new reinforcements are not needed or reformulate the current vaccines; while the worst would be to see more aggressive and highly transmissible variants, which would cause a rapid drop in immunity.
These scenarios are part of the third strategic preparedness and response plan for the pandemic by WHO, released this Wednesday and that Tedros said he hopes will be the last before ending the acute phase of the pandemic.
Various measures in view of the future of Covid
The WHO has distanced itself in recent weeks from the massive lifting of the safety measures prevention against the coronavirus, particularly in Europe, where several countries are canceling the use of health passports or masks.
“We have all the tools to put this pandemic under control: we can prevent its transmission with masks, social distance, hand hygiene and good ventilation”, Tedros insisted.
The director of WHO Health Emergencies, Mike Ryan, opi He noted that governments believe that the time has come to transfer the responsibility for prevention to citizens, but warned that the increase in cases – even though the vast majority are mild – is putting pressure on health systems in some European countries.
About the decreed mass confinement In Shanghai, the most populous city in China and suffering its worst Covid outbreak since the start of the pandemic, Mike Ryan said that “each country must see what its exit strategy is” from this health crisis and that the difficulty is finding the balance between protection (against the virus) and a normal life.
“For the authorities in China, where a seventh of the world’s population lives, it is very important to get out of the pandemic successfully ”, he stressed.
“There are many good scientists in China who can advise the government on the best exit strategy and lead to more than 1, millions of people at the end of the pandemic with the same success as they handled the first part”, he added, without going into assessing whether the confinement decision is the most appropriate or there were other options.
WHO’s objective against Covid in the next months: reach 70% immunity
Tedros considered it essential to continue pursuing the goal that 70% of the population of each country receives the vaccine against Covid-19 and expressed surprise at the idea that this has lost importance.
“Many high and middle income countries have achieved this and have now seen the decrease in cases and deaths”, he added.
He denounced that a third of the world population still does not receive a single dose, which includes the 83% of the population of Africa.
WHO informed that it is reviewing the files of 10 new candidate vaccines against Covid-19, which are waiting to receive an emergency use authorization.
The recommendation is that if the ideal level of herd immunity is 70% among the population in general, in the case of the vulnerable population they must be fully vaccinated.
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