Zika emergency committee today broadened the scope of the public health emergency to include the virus itself-not just its complications-and declined to recommend that the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil be moved or postponed.
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While the health agency said the spread of infection internationally would be “minimal”, at the Summer Olympics, it warned there were still “significant personal risks” for anyone traveling to areas where there are outbreaks of Zika, reports the Guardian.
The experts declined, finding “no reason to decrease travel to these areas”, Heymann said, adding, “The risk of global spread is not a significant concern”.
The majority of those infected with Zika will have no symptoms, but for others it can cause a mild illness with symptoms including a rash, fever and headache.
Zika first emerged in Brazil in 2015 and is now circulating in 60 countries and territories, some of which have seen an alarming surge in serious birth defects and neurological disorders.
The emergency was first declared in February.
The expert group acknowledged that mass gatherings like the Olympics “can result in the amplification of transmission” but still insisted that “the individual risks in areas of transmission are the same whether or not a mass gathering is conducted”.
Along with the Olympic torch, the medals and the mascots, the slogan plays a major part in creating the unique identity of each Olympic Games.
WHO’s emergency committees are convened according to the International Health Regulations, known as the IHR, a binding international treaty that sets out protocols for how to fight outbreaks.
The experts noted that Brazil was entering winter months, when mosquito disease transmission is lower.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO director of emergency programs, said that the increase in travel to Rio because of the Olympics would be “very, very marginal”.
Later, at a meeting with students at the headquarters of Rio’s Olympic games, Bach acknowledged Brazil was in the throes of problems on multiple fronts.
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Zika’s barely spreading in Rio now because of cooler weather, and Brazilian officials are working hard to reduce mosquito populations even ore, the WHO Emergency Committee said.
