The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for suspension of all events, in order to avert a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases during this year’s Christmas festivities.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, he said cases involving the Omicron and Delta variants are currently on the increase thus, the need for suspension of all events during the Yuletide season.

“An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled. It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later, than to celebrate now and grieve later”, Mr. Ghebreyesus said.

“All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal. The fastest way to do this is for all of us, leaders and individuals to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others,” he added.

A few weeks ago, scientists in South Africa discovered the Omicron variant as the latest strand of the pandemic. Following this development, the World Health Organisation reported that the new variant is spreading across the world, thus the need to aggressively mitigate its impact.

The WHO believes that a cancellation of all festive activities this Christmas, will go a long way to limit the spread.

Reacting to the call by the World Health Organisation, scores of individuals on social media have expressed varied opinions.

For some, the spread of the pandemic has heightened because of lax in the enforcement of the safety protocols. Therefore, suspension of events is not a prudent measure. Others have also indicated that, the bliss of Christmas should not be disrupted by such restrictions.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has indicated that stricter measures will be implemented during the Christmas, to forestall a possible rise in the number of infections.

Speaking on NewsNight on Joy FM, on Tuesday, the Director of Health Promotion at the GHS, Dr. Dacosta Aboagye, this will include “a ban on all indoor events which fall short of the relevant COVID-19 safety protocols.”