World Health Organization (WHO), the global apex body on health, on Saturday said that the onus of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in several countries across the globe is on the exponentially spreading misinformation.
According to WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove, primarily the misinformation such as the pandemic is over, Omicron is mild and that it is the last variant of Covid-19, are fuelling confusion amongst people and thus facilitating further transmission of the virus.
"We have huge amounts of misinformation that's out there. The misinformation that Omicron is mild. Misinformation that the pandemic is over. Misinformation that this is the last variant that we will have to deal with. This is really causing a lot of confusion," Ms Kerkhove said.
Emphasising on the need for vaccination, the WHO top official said that Covid-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against Omicron.
Ms Kerkhove later also elaborated that BA.2 appears to be the most transmissible variant so far. "We do not see changes in the severity of BA.2 compared to BA.1 at population levels. However, with huge numbers of cases, you will see an increase in hospitalisations and that in turn has translated into increased deaths."
According to latest data, the previous week recorded 11 million new Covid-19 cases which accounted for a whopping 8 per cent leap in global coronavirus cases compared to the previous week.
WHO's Western Pacific region including South Korea and China witnessed the biggest jump where cases increased 25 per cent and fatalities by 27 per cent.
Experts are speculating that Europe is likely to experience another coronavirus wave, with case rising since the beginning of March in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
