WHO's Dr Mike Ryan warns against 'premature rush' back to normality
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Dr Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against countries making a "premature rush" back to normality, amid the spread of the highly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant.
As several countries, including England and the US, announced the easing of several longstanding restrictions, Dr Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO's emergencies programme, warned that a new wave of Covid-19 would likely be seen over the coming weeks and months.
Yesterday, UK Prime minister Boris Johnson laid out his plan to end England’s coronavirus regulations at the next stage of the road map, including scraping social distancing requirements and making mask-wearing voluntary.
Boris Johnson said the UK must “balance the risk” of disease from Covid-19 and the harm from continuing with legal restrictions which “take their toll on people’s lives and livelihoods, on people’s health and mental health."
However, Dr Ryan said that, for many people around the world, the pandemic was only beginning, not concluding.
“All of the countries of the Americas, we still have nearly one million cases a week. It isn’t over," he told a WHO press briefing.
"The same in Europe - in the European region, we have half a million cases a week. It’s not like this thing has gone away."
Dr Ryan's warning comes amid renewed concern over the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, first detected in India.
The variant has been confirmed in an estimated 100 countries, and WHO officials have warned it could soon become the dominant form of the virus around the world.
It's sparked a resurgence of cases across parts of Europe, Asia, and the US in pockets where vaccination rates remain relatively low.
It's also driving a spike in Japan, casting a shroud over the Tokyo Olympics later this month.