OMICRON Europe – World Health Organization (WHO) warns that half of Europe will be infected by the omicron variant in six to eight weeks.
This prediction comes in light of Europe reporting an accumulated seven million cases in the first week of 2022. Dr. Hans Kuge stated, “today the Omicron variant represents a new west-to-east tidal wave, sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021”.
Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation based in Seattle has published the forecast quoted by Dr. Kluge.
Europe and Central Asia will be under immense pressure as the variant spreads from west to east. He also recommended that “how each country now responds must be informed by its epidemiological situation, available resources, vaccination uptake status and socio-economic context”.
Omicron studies show that it is highly contagious and can affect vaccinated individuals. It also shows that symptoms are milder than the previous variants.
The United Kingdom reported 142, 224 cases and 77 deaths last Monday, January 10, 2022. France has also sighted a rising number of cases. France’s Health Minister Olivier Veran stated that omicron was taking the “conventional” beds while delta strain is filling up the ICU beds.
Pfizer also announced that it would be able to launch a booster specifically for the omicron variant. The earliest possible release would be by March.