The World Health Organization calls on residents of the northern planet to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza to stay healthy

still Coronavirus disease The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that new variants of the coronavirus causing the pandemic pose a threat as they spread steadily around the world.

Maria Van Kerkhove, an expert at the World Health Organization, said: “The SARS-CoV-2 virus is currently circulating in every country and remains a threat.”

She noted that people can be infected with influenza and SARS-CoV-2 at the same time and urged residents of the northern hemisphere to get vaccinated against both as winter approaches.

“We must remain vigilant because the virus is spreading, evolving and changing,” she added in a discussion on the group’s social media site.

Van Kerkhove served as the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 technical director during the 2019 pandemic and now serves as acting director of the United Nations Organization for Epidemic Preparedness and Prevention.

Currently, there are 3 new variants worth watching: EG.5, XXB.1.16 and

One of the six variants, PA.2.86, is being moved to the highest level among variants of concern.

“We are not seeing a change in risk” compared to other subvariants, but “we are seeing a slow but steady increase in their detection rates around the world,” Van Kerkhove said.

Strengthen monitoring procedures

The new classification should help strengthen monitoring and research procedures.

The World Health Organization also released a new assessment of the risk of the “EG.5” variant, which accounts for about half of the globally common sequences, noting that the WHO has not observed a change in its risk either.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed millions of lives and caused economic and social damage.

In addition to infections and acute illness, the World Health Organization is concerned about the long-term effects of the virus, known as long-term COVID-19 cases or post-COVID-19 cases.

“We have evidence that vaccination against Covid-19 actually reduces the risk of post-Covid cases,” Van Kerkhove confirmed.

She said 13.5 billion Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally.