The World Health Organization's technical lead on COVID-19 on Wednesday said that new variants of the virus did not change the severity of the disease. 

"We have not detected a change in severity," Maria Van Kerkhove responded to Anadolu's question during a press briefing in Geneva. She was referring to variants such as BA.2.86 (Pirola), XBB.1.15, EG.5 (Eris) and XBB.1.16.

"The good news is that our countermeasures work," Kerkhove said.

She noted that the current COVID-19 vaccines remain "safe and effective" to prevent severe virus-related diseases and deaths.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was part of the same press briefing, also drew attention to the concerning trends of COVID-19 as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere.

Tedros said both hospitalizations and emergency (ICU) admissions have increased in the past 28 days, particularly in the Americas and Europe, while vaccination levels among the most at-risk groups remain "worryingly low."