More than 40 athletes at the Paris Olympics have tested positive for Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases, highlighting a new global rise in cases as vaccination coverage plunges, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The WHO said the virus behind the Covid-19 pandemic was still circulating -- and countries need to sharpen up their response systems and get jabbing those most at risk.
Several high profile athletes have suffered from Covid-19 at the 2024 Paris Games.
British swimmer Adam Peaty tested positive a day after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke when he had not felt well, his team said. Australian medal hope Lani Pallister pulled out of the women's 1500m freestyle after falling ill.
"Covid-19 is still very much with us. The virus is circulating in all countries," said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director.
Data from 84 countries shows that the percentage of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes Covid-19 disease -- "has been rising for several weeks", she told a media briefing.
Furthermore, wastewater surveillance -- which tends to give a two-to-three-week advance indication on hospitalisations -- suggests SARS-CoV-2 circulation is "two to 20 times higher than what is currently being reported", she said.
"This is significant because the virus continues to evolve and 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."
Worldwide, the test positivity rate is above 10 percent, but in Europe, the figure is over 20 percent.
Van Kerkhove said the high circulation was not typical for respiratory viruses which tend to circulate more in the colder months.
However, "in recent months, regardless of season, many countries have experienced surges of Covid-19, including at the Olympics, currently, where at least 40 athletes have tested positive," she said.
"It's not surprising to see athletes being infected, because as I said before, the virus is circulating quite rampantly in other countries."
The WHO clarified on Wednesday that they were referring to both Covid and other respiratory diseases.
Van Kerkhove said the Paris 2024 chiefs and the WHO had worked together to prevent disease circulation at the Games and the right measures were being taken.
"We have observed more people wearing masks at the Olympics -- and I think that is to take into consideration the circulation of SARS-CoV-2," she said.
The cases at the Olympics underline the current circulation of the virus, with the WHO concerned about how vaccination against developing severe Covid disease has dropped off.
"Over the last two years, we have seen an alarming decline in vaccine coverage, especially among health workers and people over 60 -- two of the most at-risk groups. This urgently needs to be turned around," said Van Kerkhove, branding their current coverage rates "abysmal".
The UN health agency urged people to ensure they had received a Covid-19 vaccination dose in the last 12 months -- especially those at higher risk.
It recommended administering Covid jabs alongside seasonal influenza vaccines as a way to boost coverage.
"Our worry is... with such low coverage and with such large circulation, if we were to have a variant that would be more severe, then the susceptibility of the at-risk populations to develop severe disease is huge," Van Kerkhove explained.
Furthermore, about six percent of symptomatic cases go on to develop post-Covid conditions, or Long Covid, causing a "massive burden" for health services.
Post-pandemic, "the perception that Covid is gone is real... but the virus isn't gone," Van Kerkhove stressed.