Europe Headed For Pandemic ‘Endgame’, Says WHO

Copenhagen: With the Omicron variant, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved into a new phase and could well bring it to an end in Europe, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Europe director, Hans Kluge, said on Sunday.

“It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” Hans Kluge was quoted as saying by news agency AFP in an interview. The director also said that Omicron could infect 60 per cent of Europeans by March.

Once the Omicron’s current surge sweeping across Europe subsides, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection, and also lowering seasonality,” the health body said.

“We anticipate that there will be a period of quiet before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back,” Kluge was quoted as saying by the agency.

However, top US scientist Anthony Fauci also expressed similar optimism on Sunday.

“This Week” that with COVID-19 cases coming down “rather sharply” in parts of the United States, “things are looking good”, Fauci told ABC News talk show.

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