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Half of Europe on track to catch Omicron, world economy at risk
The highly transmissible Omicron strain has swept across countries, forcing governments to impose fresh measures and some rolling out vaccine booster shots.
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Calling Omicron 'mild' a mistake, warns WHO
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the record numbers of people catching the new variant - which is rapidly out-competing the previously-dominant Delta variant in many countries - meant hospitals were being overwhelmed.
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WHO warns of COVID variant 'tsunami' as world cases hit record
The surge, currently worst in Europe, is forcing governments to walk a tightrope between imposing restrictions designed to stop hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and the need to keep economies and societies open two years after the virus first emerged in late 2019.
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Omicron risk remains 'very high': WHO
Omicron is behind rapid virus spikes in several countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously-dominant Delta variant, the WHO said in its COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update.
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No country can boost its way out of pandemic: WHO chief
The UN health agency has long warned that the glaring inequity in access to COVID vaccines, which has left many vulnerable people in poorer nations without a single jab as richer countries roll out broad booster programmes.
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WHO approves Novavax as 10th authorised COVID jab
The European Medicines Agency had assessed and approved Nuvaxovid on Monday.
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WHO chief says 2022 must be year 'we end the pandemic'
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted it was possible to halt the pandemic but said it would require using all the tools are our disposal, ranging from vaccines to mask-wearing and physical distancing.
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EU watchdog says Omicron 'mostly mild' as WHO warns on vaccine hoarding
The comments come after Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday that a third dose of their vaccine was effective against the variant, and that it was developing an Omicron-specific jab that should be available by March.
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At least 23 countries have reported cases of the Omicron variant
the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 23 countries have reported cases of the Omicron variant and that number is expected to grow. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Botswana and South Africa for detecting, sequencing and reporting this variant and condemned the travel bans on South Africa and other southern African nations after the announcement of the discovery.
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Countries launch WHO pandemic accord talks
Countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body "to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response".
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Omicron in Europe before South Africa reported first cases
With countries now on alert for the Omicron variant, a clearer picture is emerging by the day of where it has been circulating, and for how long.
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WHO Omicron warning for unvaccinated vulnerable travellers
The World Health Organization also said blanket travel bans would not stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
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WHO warns COVID variant Omicron risk 'very high'
The UN health agency said the COVID strain first discovered in southern Africa was a 'highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations... some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.'
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Poor diets imperilling people and the planet: report
The Global Nutrition Report (GNR), a yearly survey and analysis of the latest data on nutrition and related health issues, found that 48% of people currently eat either too little or too much - resulting in them being overweight, obese or underweight.
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WHO looking forward to oral, nasal COVID vaccines
The World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said there were 129 different candidate vaccines that have got as far as clinical trials while a further 194 are not yet that advanced in their development and are still being worked on in laboratories.
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Africa pins hopes on 'breakthrough' malaria vaccine
Since 2019, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have immunised more than 800,000 children under a pilot programme using the RTS,S vaccine. It is the first to show significant protection against the parasite-borne disease, cutting the risk of severe malaria by 30%, trials have shown.
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WHO unveils new team to investigate pandemic
The group of 26 experts will be charged with producing a new global framework for studies into the origins of emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential - and their remit includes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.
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Unequal COVID-19 jabs roll-out immoral, stupid: UN
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday branded rich nations' vaccine hogging as immoral and stupid, saying choking off poorer countries' access to jabs risked undermining their own defences against the pandemic.
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WHO set to restart Sputnik COVID vaccine analysis
WHO authorisation has been sought for the Sputnik V jab created by Russia's Gamaleya research institute, which is already being used in 45 countries, according to an AFP count.
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'Not out of the woods' in battle against COVID: WHO
Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for WHO's COVID-19, said last week 3.1 million known new cases were reported to the UN health agency, and 54,000 more deaths - though the true numbers would be much higher.
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US, EU call for 'full commitment' from WHO to prevent sexual violence
Washington and Brussels joined with other Western capitals on Friday to call for 'full commitment' from the World Health Organization to reform, after a damning report detailed rape and sexual abuse by its workers sent to fight Ebola in DR Congo.
