More than 40 athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics have tested positive for Covid-19 highlighting a new global rise in cases, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
The WHO said the virus behind the Covid-19 pandemic was still circulating and countries need to sharpen up their response systems.
British swimmer Adam Peaty tested positive a day after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke when he had not felt well. Australian medal hope Lani Pallister pulled out of the women’s 1500m freestyle after falling ill.
Data from 84 countries shows that the percentage of positive tests for Sars CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, “has been rising for weeks”, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s pandemic preparedness and prevention director.
Furthermore, wastewater surveillance – which tends to give a two-to-three-week advance indication on case numbers – suggests that circulation of Sars-CoV-2 is “two to 20 times higher than currently being reported”.
“This is significant because the virus continues to change, which puts us all at risk of a potentially more severe virus that could evade our detection and/or our medical interventions, including vaccination.”
The high circulation was not typical for respiratory viruses that tend to increase in colder months.
But “in recent months, regardless of season, many countries have had surges of Covid-19”.
Cape Times