WHO Experts Remind Health Risks Due To COVID-19 Remaining High

UNSPLASH/JC Gellidon ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic preparedness expert Maria Van Kerkhove said the global public health risk due to COVID-19 remains high, but this is not visible, while the death rate has dropped dramatically since two years ago.

"The risk of public health due to COVID-19 remains high, and this is happening globally. We have pathogens circulating around the world," said Dr. Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO epidemic prevention and pandemic at a UN press conference.

He said "Data based on cases reported to WHO is not a reliable indicator, and this has not been a reliable indicator for several years to date."

Some data from a number of countries may indicate that the virus no longer exists, but it doesn't.

WHO data shows the number of reported cases worldwide in the last 28 days stands at 286,562, while the worldwide death toll in more than two years is more than seven million.

Van Kerkhove said that the circulation of the disease was actually between two and 19 times higher than what was reported.

"So, this virus is circulating. And the hard thing right now is that the virus continues to grow," said the WHO expert, two years after COVID-19 emerged. We have a virus that will continue to change if we let it spread quickly.

However, the number of deaths from COVID-19 has dropped dramatically since its peak a few years ago, but there are still around 10 thousand deaths a month.

"And that's based on data from only 50 countries. Of the 10,000 deaths reported in December, more than half were reported to have occurred in the United States, and a thousand from Italy," he said.

Van Kerkhove said WHO did not record the number of deaths in countries around the world as many countries did not report it.

"But that doesn't mean that no patient has died," he said.

"We experienced an increase in hospitalizations and intensive care (ICU) by 42 percent and 62 percent, respectively, if we look at data from December compared to November," said Van Kerkhove, who also noted that the figure did not include data from January.

"And with the holiday season and the meeting ahead of the New Year, we expect that number to continue to increase," he continued.