"An increase in cases of infection means that there could be more hospitalisations and more deaths in the coming weeks," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva.

The WHO official estimated that most current infections are originated in different countries by the BA.5 lineage of the Ómicron variant, which is, so far, “the most contagious known” since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

According to the latest data from the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), released on Tuesday, the BA.5 lineage was responsible for about 95% of infections in the week between July 4th and 10th.

BA.5 has been the dominant strain in Portugal since May and was, according to experts, one of the causes of the recent sixth wave of infections that took place in the country.

Portugal as an example

On Monday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) used the example of Portugal to predict that other European countries could see an increase in cases of covid-19 due to the BA.4 and BA.5 strains.

“It is expected that the appearance of BA.4 and BA.5 in other countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) will result in increases in cases of Covid-19, as observed in Portugal in recent months”.

According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 "will continue to evolve", which forces countries not to relax in response to the pandemic.

"Some countries have already dismantled parts of their response plan and are taking great risks", warned the director-general of the WHO, for whom new waves of infections are expected, and it is necessary to prevent them from resulting in an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.