The Pan American Health Organization (OPS) assured that the illness caused by the omicron variant of COVID-19 should not be viewed as a “just the flu“.
It is not about seeing omicron as a simple flu. It is important to bear in mind that many people have not yet received a complete vaccination, mainly among those with comorbidity ”, he said. Sylvain Aldighieri, Incident manager for COVID-19 of organism.
Aldighieri made it clear that infection by omicron “It can be serious and very serious; therefore we must not relax at this time, we must maintain all control measures and of distancing“.
Carissa F. Etienne, Director of PAHO, stated that this new variant has impacted on the mental health of health personnel.
Our healthcare professionals have worked tirelessly for two years to care for patients and many of them fell ill; too many they died. They suffered physical exhaustion. We have a study that shows that up to 22 percent of healthcare professionals in various countries have experienced episodes of depression. There is no doubt that they need our support“, He expressed.
The head of the organization pointed out that COVID-19 infections in America They almost doubled in the last week per omicron, although with low fatality due to the fact that some countries in the region are administering third and even fourth doses to the population.
The expert explained that the new infections went from 3.4 million on January 1 to 6.1 million on January 8 and warned that the presence of these cases is accelerating in practically all the countries of the continent.
Infections accelerated rapidly during the Christmas season, reaching transmission levels never seen before during this pandemic“, He expressed.
He specified that in the first days of 2022 there has been a 77% increase in new cases and a 31% rise in deaths in the region.
He also said that omicron is on the way to becoming a dominant variant in the Americas, as it has been detected in 35 countries and territories in the region.
He stressed that the United States is the country that adds the most of the new cases, and the states of the East and Midwest are those that have experienced the fastest increases.
While Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are also experiencing significant increases in new cases, and in nations such as Argentina and Paraguay COVID-19 infections have increased by almost 300% over the last week.
With information from López-Dóriga Digital and EFE