WHO: The Second Year Of The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Been The Hardest

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic was the most difficult of the first. In the second year of the pandemic, the virus from Wuhan has spread to the northern hemisphere, even with a new variant of COVID-19.

"We are going into this second year, it could be even more difficult given the dynamics of transmission and some of the problems we are seeing," said top WHO official Mike Ryan, quoted by Reuters, Thursday, January 14.

"Certainly in the northern hemisphere, particularly in Europe and North America, we have seen winter storms, people entering, increased social mix and a combination of factors that have driven an increase in transmission in many, many countries," said Ryan.

Not much different from Ryan. WHO technical chief for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove said that after the year-end holidays the situation in several countries in the world had become worse.

The reason is, after the completion of the holidays, the transmission rate increases. Especially with the discovery of a new variant that was detected in England.

"I'm afraid we'll stay in the peak and trough pattern, or we can go through better," said Van Kerkhove.

Van Kerkhove also called on the world community to always maintain physical distance. "The further away, the better. But make sure you keep that distance from people outside your house."