Geneva: The World Health Organisation chief warned on Tuesday that it is too early for countries to either declare victory over Covid-19 or give up attempts to halt transmission.
"It is premature for any country to either surrender or to declare victory," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes."
His comment came as Denmark on Tuesday became the first EU country to lift all of its domestic Covid curbs despite record numbers of cases of the milder Omicron variant, with a number of other countries eying similar moves.
"We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary," Tedros said.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said, stressing that "more Covid-19 transmission means more deaths." The UN health agency chief pointed out that since Omicron was first spotted in southern Africa 10 weeks ago, nearly 90 million cases have been reported to the WHO -- more than in all of 2020.
And while the new Covid variant is known to be milder, he stressed that "we are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world." It is vital, he said, to keep striving to halt transmission of the virus.
"We are not calling for any country to return to so-called lockdown," Tedros said, adding though that "we are calling on all countries to protect their people using every tool in the toolkit, not vaccines alone."
The WHO head stressed the need to continue tracking emerging variants, including the Omicron sub-lineage BA.2. "This virus will continue to evolve, which is why we call on countries to continue testing, surveillance and sequencing," he said.
"We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing."Meanwhile, Denmark waved goodbye to facemasks and health passes on Tuesday as it became the first European Union country to lift all of its domestic Covid curbs despite record numbers of cases of the milder Omicron variant.
Only a few restrictions remain in place at the country’s borders, for unvaccinated travellers arriving from non-Schengen countries. After a first attempt at lifting restrictions between September and November, the Scandinavian country once again ditched its Covid checks and limited opening hours for bars and restaurants.
"For me, the best part is that we don’t need to wear masks anymore. At least now we have a choice, if we want to protect ourselves or we want to feel free," Natalia Chechetkina, a receptionist in Copenhagen, told AFP.
Marie Touflet, a 23-year-old French student in the capital, said it was "pretty strange to take the metro without a mask, compared to France". "It’s really nice to be able to see people’s faces and it feels like we’re living normally again."
The easing comes as Denmark registers around 40,000-50,000 new Covid cases a day, or almost one percent of the country’s 5.8 million inhabitants. Health officials believe those figures will soon start going down.
"There are strong indications that the infection has peaked in the areas where it has been most pronounced," Tyra Krause of Denmark’s public health and research institution SSI told news agency Ritzau.
"So it’s super good timing for the restrictions to be eased," she added. More than 60 percent of Danes have received a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine -- one month ahead of health authorities’ schedule -- compared to an EU average of just under 45 percent.
Including those who have recently had Covid, health authorities estimate that 80 percent of the population is protected against severe forms of the disease. "With Omicron not being a severe disease for the vaccinated, we believe it is reasonable to lift restrictions", epidemiologist Lone Simonsen of the University of Roskilde told AFP.
Two years after the outbreak of Covid-19, the Danish strategy enjoys broad support at home. In a poll published Monday by daily Politiken, 64 percent of Danes surveyed said they had faith in the government’s Covid policy, while the lifting of restrictions also has widespread support in parliament.
Going forward, Danes are being urged to exercise personal responsibility. "Without a Covid pass there will be a shift of responsibility," Simonsen said. Danes have increasingly used home tests to detect infection, but these are now being phased out and instead, anyone with symptoms is advised to stay home.
The Danish Health Authority currently "recommends" those who test positive to isolate for four days, while contact cases no longer need to quarantine. Meantime, the World Health Organisation warned on Tuesday that the vast amount of waste produced in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic posed a threat to human and environmental health.
The tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste had put a huge strain on healthcare waste management systems, the WHO said in a report. The extra waste is "threatening human and environmental health and exposing a dire need to improve waste management practices", the UN health agency said.
As countries scrambled to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to cope with the crisis, less attention was paid to disposing of Covid-19 health care waste safely and sustainably, the WHO said. Earlier on Tuesday Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa tested positive for coronavirus, his cabinet said, as he prepared to govern solo just days after scoring a parliamentary majority.
"He does not have any symptoms and will respect an isolation period of seven days," it said. The news comes after the premier’s Socialist party won 117 seats in the 230-seat parliament in Sunday’s snap election.
Costa, who has headed two minority governments since 2015, was expected to meet President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Wednesday. The head of state, who started talking to lawmakers from all sides about the new cabinet on Tuesday, had been expected to formally invite Costa to form a fresh government.
The line-up is not expected to be unveiled until the last week of February after the new parliament starts work, the cabinet has said. Costa has never announced having Covid-19 before, though he has had to isolate before, including after coming into contact with France’s President Emmanuel Macron who tested positive in late 2020.
