One Major Cause Of Less COVID-19 Cases That Would Shock You
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The World Health Organisation has revealed the real major cause of fewer COVID-19 cases globally.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, the UN health agency said the drop cases have made the world blind to the rampage of the virus.
It revealed that a massive drop in testing has made people believe the virus has been reduced.
The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that there was a decline in COVID-19 deaths.
According to him, “Last week, just over 15 thousand deaths were reported to WHO – the lowest weekly total since March 2020.”
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Although, he acknowledged that this was “a very welcome trend,” one must not relax. He explained that this could be a result of the decline in testing.
The WHO boss said, “This makes us increasingly blind to patterns of transmission and evolution,” Tedros said.
“When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss,” he added.
Head of global diagnostics, Alliance FIND, William Rodriguez lamented the decline in testing for COVID-19 cases.
In a chat with newsmen, Rodriguez said that the surge of the Omicron variant has affected testing. He stated that “testing rates have plummeted by 70 to 90 per cent worldwide.”
He said that this increased testing rate exists despite more access to accurate testing.
“We have an unprecedented ability to know what is happening,” Rodriguez noted.
“And yet today because testing has been the first casualty of a global decision to let down our guard, we’re becoming blind to what is happening with this virus.”
At least six million persons have died since the pandemic started in Wuhan, China in 2019.
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However, the WHO believes the death toll to be three times higher.
Despite a decreased number of cases, the WHO advised countries to tread carefully.
“This virus won’t go away just because countries stop looking for it,” Tedros said, pointing out that “it is still spreading, it is still changing, and it is still killing.”
He cautioned that “the threat of a dangerous new variant remains very real.”
“And although deaths are declining, we still don’t understand the long-term consequences of infection in those who survive.”
Source: PUNCH Health Wise