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The logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 11, 2009. (AP/Yonhap News)

The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that 90 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been reported since the Omicron variant was first identified 10 weeks ago. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus disclosed the figure during a press conference, adding that it exceeded the total number of COVID-19 cases in 2020, the Associated Press reported.

Tedros cautioned against underestimating the risks of the Omicron variant despite its “lower severity,” saying, “We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths, in most regions of the world.”

He added, “We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that [. . .] preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary.”

The WHO announced that deaths are on the rise in four of the world’s six populated continents.

“Now is not the time to lift everything all at once,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, explaining that the WHO recommends “lifting those interventions in a steady and in a slow way, piece by piece.”

Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, noted that countries with a high rate of vaccination have more options for easing pandemic restrictions, but stressed that any such decision should be made in consideration of the current circumstances of the pandemic, high-risk populations and medical realities.

“Don’t just follow blindly what every other country is doing. Chart your own path,” Ryan said.

In a related development, Reuters reported Wednesday that the COVID-19 reinfection rate has risen sharply amid the spread of the Omicron variant. Reuters said the reinfection rate in the UK had stood at 2% during the six months prior to Dec. 6 of last year but has risen to 10% so far in 2022.

That analysis was based on data provided by the UK Health Security Agency.

By Shin Gi-sub, senior staff writer

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