The Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has taken the pandemic into a new stage and it could even end the pandemic in Europe, according to Hans Kluge, the Europe director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the British news portal The Guardian reports.
«It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,» Hans Kluge told French news agency AFP, adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.
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Once the current surge of Omicron 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».
«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 noted as quoted by The Guardian.
WHO: Possible for pandemic in Europe to end with Omicron
