ISLAMABAD: Although COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the virus is still circulating, changing, and claimed almost 10,000 lives which were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2023, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday. There was a 42pc increase in hospitalizations and a 62pc increase in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions, compared with November 2023, Director General WHO Dr Tedros said in his opening remarks at a media briefing. Dr Tedros maintained that data from various sources indicate increasing transmission during December, fuelled by gatherings over the holiday period, by the JN.1 variant, which is now the most commonly reported variant globally. These trends, however, are based on data from less than 50 countries,…
