GENEVA: The WHO has issued stern warnings on the dangers of vaccination apathy and the European Union put mandatory jabs on the table as the United States registered its first case of the fast-spreading Omicron strain of the coronavirus.
The new variant, first reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa a week ago, has quickly popped up across continents, darkening economic forecasts and deepening fears of another difficult winter in the northern hemisphere.
"Globally, we have a toxic mix of low vaccine coverage, and very low testing -- a recipe for breeding and amplifying variants," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday, reminding the world that the Delta variant "accounts for almost all cases".
"We need to use the tools we already have to prevent transmission and save lives from Delta. And if we do that, we will also prevent transmission and save lives from Omicron."
The WHO says it could take several weeks to understand whether or not Omicron is more transmissible, and whether it results in more severe disease -- as well as how effective current treatments and vaccines are against it.
Its detection and spread, however, have highlighted that the now nearly two-year global fight against Covid-19 is far from over.
In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was "understandable and appropriate" to discuss how to "encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination" in the bloc -- although only individual member states can impose such mandates.
Austria has already said it will make Covid jabs compulsory next February, Germany is considering a similar approach, and Greece said Tuesday it would mandate vaccines for over-60s.
FIRST US CASE
The United States, officially the world's hardest-hit country from Covid-19, announced it had detected its first Omicron case: a fully vaccinated traveller from South Africa who is recovering from mild symptoms.
Top American infectious diseases specialist Anthony Fauci stressed that fully vaccinated adults should seek a booster when eligible to give themselves the best possible protection.
"Our experience with variants such as the Delta variant is that even though the vaccine isn't specifically targeted to the Delta variant, when you get a high enough level of an immune response, you get spillover protection," he said.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also recorded their first cases of Omicron, making the Gulf the latest region to be affected.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control meanwhile recommended that children aged five to 11 who are at risk of severe Covid should be considered a "priority group" for vaccination.
UN AID WARNING
The United Nations said on Thursday that the pandemic has pushed 20 million more people into poverty around the globe, meaning the need for humanitarian aid was skyrocketing.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that 274 million people would need emergency assistance next year, up 17 percent on 2021, as economies suffer with Covid restrictions.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Omicron threatens the world's recovery and lowered its growth estimate for 2021 from 5.7 percent to 5.6 percent.
Omicron has prompted governments around the globe to reimpose travel restrictions, mostly targeting southern Africa.
A day after suspending new flight bookings into the country, Japan on Thursday eased the blanket move to help citizens return.
But there is growing criticism of such bans.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called them "deeply unfair and punitive" as well as "ineffective". - AFP
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