The epidemiologist stressed that the virus remains “very present” in the world and circulates in “all countries.”
At least 40 athletes participating in the Paris Olympic Games tested positive “for covid or other respiratory diseases,” in tune with an increase in cases of covid in the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.
“It is not surprising that there are athletes infected, because the virus is circulating quite a lot in other countries,” epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the WHO’s pandemic prevention and preparedness unit, said at a press conference in Geneva.
“In recent months, … many countries have experienced a rebound from the covid-19,” he said.
As of August 6, the WHO surveillance system, “which analyzes information from the media and other verified sources, indicated that at least 40 Olympic athletes had tested positive for Covid-19 or other respiratory diseases,” the organization said on Wednesday.
Van Kerkhove said Tuesday that the Olympic Committee, with the help of WHO, “examined the strategies to be put in place” at mass rallies such as the Games and took “appropriate measures.”
The epidemiologist stressed that the virus remains “very present” in the world and circulates in “all countries.”
Data collected by WHO through a sentry epidemiological surveillance system in 84 countries show that the percentage of positive cases in covid-19 tests increased in recent weeks.
This increase “has led to an increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths in several countries,” Van Kerkhove said. “Globally, the positive test rate is more than 10%, but this figure varies from region to region” and that for example in Europe the percentage is more than 20%.
The WHO expert stressed that measurements in wastewater suggest that the virus circulates “between 2 and 20 times more” than case reports.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo
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