WHO: Full impact of variants remains to be seen

The UN health agency's emergencies chief says the impact of new variants of the coronavirus in places like Britain, South Africa and Brazil remains to be seen, and faults human behaviour for some recent rises in case counts.

"It's just too easy to lay the blame on the variant and say, 'It's the virus that did it,'" Dr. Michael Ryan, the emergencies chief at the World Health Organization (WHO), said Friday.

That was an allusion to holiday merrymaking and other social contacts as well as loosening adherence -- in pockets -- to calls from public health officials for people to respect measures like physical distancing, regular hand hygiene and mask-wearing.

Ryan also pointed to new recommendations from the WHO's emergency committee advising that countries should not require proof of vaccination by incoming travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic -- for now.

The WHO official also noted that vaccine supply is not complete and that the science remains unclear if the COVID-19 vaccines now being deployed act to prevent transmission from a vaccinated person to others.