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According to Xinhua News Agency, the World Health Organization recently warned that at least 40 athletes have been infected with the new coronavirus and other respiratory disease pathogens during the Paris Olympics. The international community should pay attention to the abnormal increase in new coronavirus infections in the summer and recommends vaccination of the highest-risk groups with the new coronavirus vaccine.

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the World Health Organization's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention department, warned at a press conference in Geneva on the 6th that data from more than 80 countries showed that the number of people infected with the main pathogen of the new coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has continued to increase in recent days.

According to overseas media reports, health agencies can analyze the spread of the virus based on wastewater monitoring data and predict the shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients two to three weeks in advance. According to Van Kerkhove, wastewater monitoring data shows that the spread rate of SARS-CoV-2 is "two to 20 times higher than what has been reported." It is unusual for the new coronavirus to have such a high transmission rate in the summer, as other respiratory viruses generally thrive in cold seasons.

According to AFP, the current global COVID-19 positive detection rate is slightly over 10%, and the positive detection rate in Europe is slightly over 20%. Van Kerkhove reminded: "COVID-19 is still not far away from us." She is worried that given the current low vaccination rate and high transmission rate of the virus, if a more powerful COVID-19 variant emerges, the risk of severe illness in high-risk groups after infection is "huge."

The World Health Organization called on governments to strengthen emergency preparedness and vaccinate the most at-risk groups with COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

According to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the peak season of infection with the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus in the United States in 2022, wastewater monitoring showed that the virus concentration was as high as 23 times the baseline level. The concentration of the new coronavirus monitored nationwide in the United States in April and May this year was slightly higher than the baseline level, but it has risen to 7 times the baseline level in the past two months.

However, Andrew Pecos, a professor of microbiology at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, told The Washington Post on the 7th that "a large number of mutant strains" in the United States have similar mutations, which may indicate that the new coronavirus has limited ways of evolving. "We don't have any data to show that the current (new coronavirus) variants will cause more severe disease." (Ocean)

Editor: Xin Jing