(VOVWORLD) - The head of the UN health agency has criticized “blunt” and “blanket” measures taken by countries in the past few days to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
 Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, where 61 people who flew back from South Africa are positive for COVID-19. (Illustration photo: Reuters) |
In a statement on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that while it was understandable that all countries should want to protect their citizens, Omicron was still a largely unknown threat.
He added the world should not forget “that we are already dealing with a highly transmissible, dangerous variant – the Delta variant, which accounts for almost all cases globally”.
“We call on all member states to take rational, proportional risk-reduction measures,” the WHO chief said in a briefing on Tuesday.
First reported in southern Africa a week ago, Omicron has triggered global alarm. Some 56 countries were reportedly implementing travel measures to guard against Omicron as of Nov. 28, according to the WHO.