Concern has been growing among health professionals ahead of the winter about the risk of a 'twindemic' - the flu combined with Covid.
And a WHO chief sounded the alarm at a conference in Cork today saying that we have lost the capacity to detect new Covid variants quickly.
Dr Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of the Health Emergencies Programme, warned that “there are gaps” in testing and sequencing as we head into winter.
He expressed fears that a new Covid variant that is more transmittable and “potentially more severe” could go undetected.
READ MORE: Top Irish doctor fears 'hell on earth' doomsday winter scenario due to Covid and flu
Dr Ryan said: “One of the biggest fears going forward is that a new variant which is more easy to catch and potentially more severe could take over from BA.5.
“The earlier an alert is sounded about a new variant which could potentially take over, the faster health authorities can respond.”
However, he feared this would not happen, saying: “We have lost capacity to detect that new variant quickly."
He continued: “We are seeing signs that things are improving but we know too there are gaps - many people around the world are not protected, there are many systems that are still very weak, we don’t know how this virus will continue to evolve.”
This comes after a senior doctor also warned of a 'hell on earth' doomsday winter scenario for patients in the health service this winter due to Covid-19 and the flu.
Dr Fergal Hickey, who is president of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, warned his doomsday scenario will unfold if the HSE does not overcome hospital waiting times.
He issued his warning as the Emergency Department Task Force met yesterday to discuss a worst-case winter scenario.
It’s feared this could see 17,000 people in hospital with Covid-19, as well as 4,500 flu patients and 700 in ICU. The meeting also detailed 40,398 breaches of waiting times when patients were left waiting over 24 hours this year.
Dr Hickey fears hospital services “could collapse” and urged the annual winter plan to be replaced by a year-round approach.
He said: “If that scenario comes to pass, that will be hell on earth for patients and the clinical staff looking after them. It would be an Armageddon-type situation. We simply don’t have the bed capacity to cope as things stand.”
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