Copenhagen: Omicron variant has moved the Covid-19 pandemic into a new phase and can publish it in Europe, said European Director Sunday.
“It really makes sense that this area moves towards a kind of endgame pandemic,” said Hanss Kluge told AFP in an interview, adding that Omicron could infect 60 percent of Europeans in March.
After the current Omicron surge currently sweeps Europe to subside, “there will be for several weeks and months of global immunity, both thanks to vaccines or because people have immunity due to infection, and also reduce the season.” “So we anticipate that there will be a calm period before Covid-19 can return towards the end of the year, but it doesn’t have to go back,” Kluge said.
Omicron variants, the research shows generally lead to less severe infections among people who are vaccinated than Delta, have raised long-awaited expectations that Covid-19 began to shift from pandemics in seasonal diseases that are easier to manage.
“There is a lot of talk about endemic but endemic means …
it is possible to predict what will happen.
This virus has been surprising (US) more than once so we must be very careful”, said Kluge.
In the WHO Europe area, consisting of 53 countries including several in Central Asia, Omicron represents 15 percent of new cases on January 18, compared to 6.3 percent a week before, the health body said.