WHO officials said this month that the proportion of younger people among those infected with SARS-CoV-2 has risen globally, putting vulnerable segments of the population around the world at risk, including the elderly and the sick in densely populated areas. with weak health services.
"The epidemic is changing," Takeshi Kasai, the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, said in an online interview. "Twenty-year-olds, thirties and forties are increasingly becoming the main transmitters of the virus. "Many do not know they have been infected," he said.
"This increases the risk of transmission to the most vulnerable," he added.
An outbreak in its new cases COVID-19 has led some countries to re-impose restrictions, while at the same time companies are racing to find a vaccine for the virus that has hit economies, killing more than 770.000 people and infecting almost 22 million people worldwide, according to according to a Reuters report.
An outbreak of the new coronavirus has been reported in countries that appeared to have controlled its spread, including Vietnam, which until recently had three months to deal with domestic transmission of the virus thanks to its aggressive efforts to curb its spread.
"What we are seeing is not just a resurgence. "We believe it is an indication that we have entered a new phase of the Asia-Pacific pandemic," Kasai said.
Countries can now better reduce the disruption that the new coronavirus causes to people's lives and economies by combining early detection and response to infection management.
Also, although mutations have been observed, the WHO still considers the virus to be "relatively stable", according to Kasai.
The WHO also reminded drug manufacturers that they must follow all the necessary research and development steps in the vaccine development process.
Sokoro Escalade, Kasai's pharmaceutical policy adviser, said the WHO was co-ordinating with Russia, which this month became the first country to have its regulator approve a vaccine against COVID-19.