WHO : More than half of Europe likely to get infected with Omicron
The World Health Organization has warned that half of Europe will have been infected with the Omicron variant of Covid19 within six to eight weeks. The projection was based on the seven million new cases reported across Europe in the first week of 2022.
Speaking at a press conference, regional director Hans Kluge warned that the Omicron variant represented a “new west-to-east tidal wave sweeping across” the European region. “At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) forecasts that more than 50 percent of the population in the region will be infected with Omicron in the next six to eight weeks,” Kluge told reporters.
Omicron has swept the region at an alarming pace, with some countries reintroducing social restrictions in an effort to curb it. However, early evidence suggests that omicron is less severe than the delta variant, although there are concerns that the sheer number of infections could still overwhelm health systems.
