COVID-19: WHO says some countries may be failing to report omicron cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there could be countries that avoid reporting the detection of cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus for fear of suffering travel restrictions, as an explanation for the low number of cases registered in the Eastern Mediterranean region .

The regional director of the body for this area that includes 22 countries between Morocco and Pakistan, Ahmed Al Mandhari, reported that so far only 14 of these nations have reported a total of 45 cases.

“There could be delays in detection, there could be delays in reporting“Said the director of Contagious Diseases of the WHO in the region, Yvan Hutin, to explain the extremely low number of cases.

But, “Given the strong reaction South Africa faces after reporting omicron detection, we could also have, we cannot exclude, that some countries could have detected omicron and fear travel bans or other issues”.

Hutin assured that they are examining the data they have so far, but assured that, in any case, the WHO has been working to strengthen the capacities of all countries “to sequence viruses and detect variants such as omicron”.

Meanwhile, Al Mandhari indicated that the region that includes the African countries of the Mediterranean coast, the entire Middle East (except Israel), Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan has officially registered more than 17 million cases (out of a total of 270 million worldwide) and 314,000 deaths (of the five million globally).

Regarding vaccination, Hutin revealed that at the moment 36% of the population in the area has at least one dose and 22% with the complete regimen, compared to 40% who had proposed the WHO by the end of 2021, but the campaign is proceeding at a very uneven pace: only nine countries have reached that rate, while six have not even reached 10%.