The World Health Organization warned countries considering relaxing Covid-19 limitations to proceed with “with caution,” saying that high immunization rates would not prevent the virus from spreading.
According to the UN health agency, governments should not waste hard-won gains by returning to images of overburdened hospitals and weary health staff.
Asked about England’s intentions to abandon most of its coronavirus restrictions from July 19, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said: “I would recommend great care in the entire relaxation of public health and social measures at this time, because there are implications for that.” WHO records reveal that internationally, after a reduction in newly reported cases for seven consecutive weeks, there was a modest increase in new possibilities in the past two weeks.
Over the last week, the number of cases in the WHO’s European area increased by 30%.
According to AFP estimates, 70 vaccination doses per 100 people were given out in European countries.
“It’s a fallacious premise to assume that transmission will not rise because we’re opening up, because of vaccine,” Ryan said.
“When you open up, transmission will rise since we don’t have immunizations in everyone… and we’re still not sure to what extent vaccination protects against infection or onward transmission.”
“With increasing community transmission, we put our most vulnerable people at risk again.”
