BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that at least 40 athletes have been infected with the new coronavirus and other respiratory pathogens during the Paris Olympics, and the international community should pay attention to the abnormal increase in new crown infections in the summer and recommend vaccination for the most at-risk groups.
This is the World Health Organization logo and WHO headquarters building taken in Geneva, Switzerland, May 21, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lian Yi
Maria · van Kelkerkhoff, acting director of the WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Department, warned at a press conference in Geneva on the 6th that data from more than 80 countries show that the number of people infected with the main pathogen of the new crown, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has continued to increase recently.
According to overseas media reports, health institutions can analyze the spread of the virus based on wastewater surveillance data, and predict the shortage of hospital beds for patients infected with the new crown two to three weeks in advance. According to Van Krkhove, wastewater surveillance data shows that SARS-CoV-2 is spreading "2 to 20 times faster than what has been reported." It is unusual for the coronavirus to have such a high transmission rate in the summer, and other respiratory viruses generally rage during the cold season.
People attend a clinic in Madrid, Spain, on January 15. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Gustavo · Ballente)
According to Agence France-Presse, the current positive detection rate of the new crown is slightly more than 10% worldwide, and the positive detection rate in Europe is slightly more than 20%. Van Kirkerhoff cautioned: "The coronavirus is still not far away. She worries that given the current low vaccination rate and high transmission rate of the virus, the risk of severe disease in high-risk groups if a more severe variant of the coronavirus emerges.
WHO is calling on governments to strengthen emergency preparedness and vaccinate those most at risk against COVID and influenza.
According to statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the peak season of Omicron infection of the new coronavirus in United States in 2022, wastewater surveillance showed that the virus concentration reached up to 23 times the baseline level. Nationally in the United States, coronavirus concentrations were monitored slightly above baseline levels in April and May, but rose to seven times baseline levels in the past two months.
However, Andrew ·Pecos, United States professor of microbiology at Johns · Hopkins University, told the Washington Post on the 7th that the mutations of the "large number of mutant strains" in United States are similar, which may indicate that the new crown virus has a limited way of evolution. "We don't have any data to suggest that the [Covid] variant that is circulating now causes more severe disease."
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Comprehensive|Xinhua News Agency Editor|Wei Wei
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