Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Cancel your holiday plans, urges WHO, to stop Omicron Covid variant spread

Cancel your holiday plans, urges WHO, to stop Omicron Covid variant spread

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, at a news briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 2021 called on countries and individuals to postpone or cancel holiday plans to try to stop the global spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday at a briefing in Geneva.

Tedros said evidence shows that the Omicron variant is "spreading significantly faster" than the previous dominant version, Delta, and “it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected”.



Cancel now, celebrate later

Holiday festivities will lead to "increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths", warned Tedros, urging leaders and individuals to cancel or delay events and planned gatherings.

"It's better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later," he said.

A number of countries have put in place measures to try to slow the spread of the variant

France has not imposed lockdowns, as its neighbours, The Netherlands have done, but it has imposed travel restrictions, and Paris and other cities have cancelled public New Year’s celebrations.

Omicron is now dominant in the United States, and Americans are advised not to travel to more than 80 countries, including almost all of Europe.



More infectious than Delta

The WHO also said it would be "unwise" to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant than Delta.

The statements echo the findings in a study published last week by the Imperial College London showing the risk of reinfection from Omicron is more than five times higher than Delta, and has shown no sign of being milder.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the briefing Monday that the new variant is successfully evading some immune responses, meaning that vaccine booster programmes being rolled out in many countries ought to be targeted towards people with weaker immune systems.



Hope for the future?

Amidst the bleak reporting, the WHO also said second- and third- generation vaccines, and the development of treatments and other innovations could provide hope that the pandemic can eventually be brought under control.

Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, told the briefing that the organization hopes “to consign this disease to a relatively mild disease that is easily prevented, that is easily treated".

"If we can keep virus transmission to minimum,” he said, “then we can bring the pandemic to an end."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
×