WHO chief warns over festive gatherings:

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that holiday festivities would in many places lead to “increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths” and urged people to postpone gatherings.

• “An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan added it would be “unwise” to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant that previous ones … with the numbers going up, all health systems are going to be under strain,” Soumya Swaminathan told Geneva-based journalists.

The variant is successfully evading some immune responses, she said, meaning that the booster programmes being rolled out in many countries ought to be targeted towards people with weaker immune systems.

“And it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 could be infected or re-infected,” Tedros said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/21/who-chief-warns-over-festive-gatherings-an-event-cancelled-is-better-than-a-life-cancelled-omicron

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