After the Brazilian president minimized the impacts of the new variant, the director of the World Health Organization stated that “no virus that kills people is welcome” and that it is not a mild disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) refuted statements by President Jair Bolsonaro that minimized the impacts of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus and suggested that it would be “welcome”. “This is not the time to declare that this is a welcome virus. No virus that kills people is welcome. Especially when this mortality and suffering are preventable with the proper use of vaccination,” said the executive director of the program. WHO health emergencies, Michael Ryan. When asked this Wednesday (12/01) about the statements made by the Brazilian president, made on the same day, Ryan said that although the omicron may be “less serious as a viral infection in an individual, that does not mean that it is a mild illness”. There are many people around the world in hospitals, in ICUs, with difficulty breathing, which “obviously makes it very clear that this is not a mild illness”, he added, at a press conference in Geneva. “It’s a disease that can be prevented by vaccines, it’s a disease that can be prevented by taking strong personal precautions to avoid infection and getting vaccinated.” Bolsonaro talks about “vaccinal virus” Bolsonaro made the statements about the variant of the coronavirus in an interview given to the website Gazeta Brasil. “Omicron, which has already spread all over the world, as the people who really understand it say: that it has a very large capacity to spread, but very small lethality. They even say it would be a vaccine virus”, said the president. “According to some studious and serious people, and not linked to pharmaceutical companies, they say that the Ômicron is welcome and can indeed signal the end of the pandemic”, added Bolsonaro, also affirming that the variant has not caused deaths and that the death of a man in Goiás related to the omicron, the first as a result of the variant confirmed in Brazil, would be from a person who already had “very serious problems”. The victim was 68 years old and suffered from chronic lung disease and arterial hypertension. for the first time to the WHO at the end of November and highly transmissible, it is already the dominant variant of the coronavirus in the world and in Brazil. According to figures released by the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) this Wednesday Arta, the country recorded more than 87,000 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, more than triple the 27,000 counted a week earlier. In the interview with Gazeta Brasil, Bolsonaro also questioned the effectiveness of vaccines against covid-19, saying that he asked the Ministry of Health to disclose cases of side effects. Bolsonaro has been minimizing the severity of covid-19, which he called a “little flu”, since the beginning of the pandemic. He also promoted drugs with no proven effectiveness against the disease and made repeated attacks on immunizers. The Pandemic CPI revealed that the federal government ignored a series of emails from pharmaceutical Pfizer with offers of its vaccine and accused the president of a series of crimes in the context of the health emergency. WHO warnings The WHO has already issued a series of warnings about the possible impacts of the omicron variant, pointing out that it can overwhelm health systems around the world. In its weekly epidemiological report released on Tuesday, the organization highlights that there is increasing evidence that the omicron variant is able to “escape immunity”, as there is transmission even between vaccinated and people who have already had the disease. While there is “growing evidence” that the omicron is less severe than previous variants of the coronavirus, the organization highlighted that the health risks posed by the omicron remain very high, as it can lead to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in vulnerable populations. . The WHO has warned that more than half of Europe’s population could have contracted the variant in the next two months if infection numbers continue at current rates. Also immunologist Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top adviser on the pandemic, predicts that sooner or later the omicron, “with its unprecedented degree of transmissibility efficiency”, will infect almost everyone. He highlighted, however, that the disease will be “less serious” thanks to vaccines and booster doses. “Pretty much everyone will end up exposed and will probably be infected, but if they get vaccinated and get boosters, the chances of getting sick are very, very low,” he said. lf (Reuters, AFP, ots) 
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