“The UK has reported that this new variant transmits more easily but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“WHO is working with scientists to understand how these genetic changes affect how the virus behaves,” Ghebreyesus stated, during his opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 on Monday.

“The bottom line is that we need to suppress transmission of all SARS-CoV-2 viruses as quickly as we can. The more we allow it to spread, the more opportunity it has to change.”

Ghebreyesus stressed that this year has been difficult for all of people, but for health workers it has never been harder.

Ghebreyesus went on to say: “Safe and effective vaccines give us hope, but they are not an excuse for people to let down their guard and put themselves and their loved ones at risk. Now is the time to double down on the public health basics that have seen many countries suppress the virus effectively.”

“There are a number of groups that continue to push a narrative that this virus only affects the old, and that with vaccines on the horizon we can relax,” Ghebreyesus said, adding that COVID-19 affects children and adults in a variety of ways, and it can attack every system in the body.

Ghebreyesus also underlined that a growing number of people suffered with long-term consequences of the virus.

“Vaccines are offering hope for some, but I am deeply concerned that vaccine nationalism will deprive the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people of these life-saving tools,” Ghebreyesus warned.