The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries that are starting to lift COVID-19 measures to do so in a slow and steady manner, as recent data shows a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths around the world.

He reiterated his concern over the narrative in some countries that preventing transmission is no longer possible or necessary "because of vaccines, and Omicron's high transmissibility and lower severity."

"More transmission means more deaths. We are not calling for any country to return to a lockdown. But we are calling on all countries to protect their people using every tool in the toolkit, not vaccines alone," he said.

"It's premature for any country either to surrender or to declare victory."

More concerning right now is that the past four weeks(in January 2022) have seen a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus-related deaths around the world, which "shouldn't be happening at the present time when we have the tools to prevent this."

She said that those countries should do so "in a steady and in a slow way, piece by piece," because this virus is quite dynamic.

Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, echoed that countries should chart their own paths in lifting the measures instead of blindly following what other countries are doing.

"Those countries that are making decisions to open up more broadly also need to be sure they have the capacity to reintroduce measures with community acceptance quickly, if needed. So, if you open the doors quickly, you better be able to close it quickly as well," he added.

(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT.)