HEALTH Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today warned of a possible “pandemic tsunami” driven by the Delta and Omicron Covid-19 variants, citing a rise in daily cases in many countries.

His warning comes on the heels of similar remarks by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who also described the possibility of an impending surge as a tsunami.

“I’m highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible [and] circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” Ghebreyesus said.

Noor Hisham on Facebook today said early prevention measures must continue.

“The fast transmission of the Omicron Covid-19 variant and the aggressive Delta variant can spark a pandemic tsunami if prevention and early control measures are not taken.”

He said cases have also been on the rise in several countries and posted screenshots of graphs showing a sharp spike in daily cases in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Come the end of this year, it will be two years the world has had to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The first known Covid-19 cases in Wuhan, China – then known as a pneumonia-like virus – were reported on December 31, 2019. – December 30, 2021.