WHO warns of persistent threats from Covid

Geneva, Jan 13: Public health risks resulting from the Covid-19 virus remain high globally, with the virus circulating in all countries, a senior expert from the World Health Organization (WHO) said here.

According to estimates based on wastewater analysis, the actual circulation of Covid-19 is two to 19 times higher than the number of reported cases, Maria van Kerkhove, the interim director of WHO responsible for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told a special briefing in Geneva.

She also expressed concerns regarding the emergence of post-Covid conditions (also called "long Covid") affecting multiple organs.

While there has been a drastic reduction in Covid-related deaths since the peak, around 10,000 deaths per month are still reported from 50 countries.

Van Kerkhove expressed concerns about the evolving nature of the virus, with the Covid-19 JN.1 variant representing around 57 percent of global sequences analysed by the WHO.