By PAVEL BAILEY

THE Pan American Health Organisation says it is too soon for countries to lower their guard against the coronavirus as some world leaders are rolling back COVID-19 restrictions.

PAHO officials are also concerned about the possibility of another spike in cases as travel increases over the summer, and has advised easing travel restrictions too much could cause another spike.

PAHO director Dr Carissa Etienne yesterday spoke on the status of COVID-19, acknowledging this week marks the two-year anniversary of the start of the pandemic in the region. She noted the Americas have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

She reported that last week that the Americas experienced a decline of 26 percent in COVID-19 cases with 1.1 million new infections reported. She also noted while there had been a decline in COVID deaths by nearly 19 percent with close to 18,000 deaths reported, there are still countries in the region reporting an increase in cases. In the Caribbean Dr Etienne said there had been a slight rise in cases by 2.2 percent and that countries and territories like Bolivia and Puerto Rico reported an increase in COVID deaths over the previous week.

“This week marks a sombre occasion; it has been two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic just before COVID transmission became widespread in our region. And since then, we have lost at least six million people around the world to this virus and the Americas have been disproportionately affected.

“With more than 2.6 million lives lost we reported the most COVID deaths out of any other region in the world. Nearly half of all global deaths were in the Americas, even though our region is home to fewer than 13 percent of people around the world.”

While Dr Etienne sympathised with growing global sentiment for the pandemic to end, she said that it is unlikely that the virus is going away anytime soon. She said the world needs to learn to live with COVID and continue to find ways to adapt to this new reality.

“We all want the pandemic to be over, but optimism alone cannot control the virus. It is too soon to lower our guard. Public health measures are being left behind in many parts of our region, some but not all countries are making that decision based on risk assessment and health data. Omicron is still around, and this pandemic is unpredictable. We must build on lessons from the past two years to prepare for quick action if a new variant emerges or outbreaks happen among those who remain vulnerable,” she said.

“COVID-19 is likely to be here to stay, we must learn to live with this virus and quickly adapt to new changes. We can do that by keeping our finger on the pulse of the pandemic and adjusting public health guidelines any time there is a risk of increased transmission.

“Surveillance is our eyes and ears so countries should continue to sequence the virus to monitor for variants and changes in transmission.”