The Latest Breaking News from Van Kerkhove

XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other variants in some European countries and in the Northeast U.S., according to the WHO—a growth advantage concerning experts.

The World Health Organization's Covid chief said Friday it was time for a reality check on the virus after the millionth death from the disease this year. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead Covid-19, said the toll was "heartbreaking" because the tests, treatments, vaccines and public health measures to…

BA.5, part of the Omicron family, is the latest coronavirus variant to cause widespread waves of infection globally.

The World Health Organization lamented Wednesday that it had no access to data about North Korea's Covid-19 outbreak, but assumed the crisis was deepening, contrary to Pyongyang's reports of "progress". North Korea, which announced its first ever coronavirus cases on May 12, said last week its Covid outbreak had been…

Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization lamented Wednesday that it had no access to data about North Korea's Covid-19 outbreak, but assumed the crisis was deepening, contrary to Pyongyang's reports of "progress".

Fears have risen that the more transmissible strain is now building momentum in the country after two previous cases were reported by Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan earlier this month

Geneva (AFP) - The monkeypox outbreaks in non-endemic countries can be contained and human-to-human transmission of the virus stopped, the World Health Organization said Monday.

According to Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, two cases of BA.4, a subvariant of the Omicron strain, were detected earlier this month

WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove has warned against theories that the virus will continue to mutate into milder strains

More than two years after Covid first emerged in China, mechanisms are now in place that flag up potentially dangerous new variants sometimes months before they make the news. Namita Singh reports