Half of Europe soon to be infected with Omicron?
Worried about a "tidal wave", the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated on Tuesday that more than 50% of Europeans could be affected by the new variant within two months, because of the current rate of contamination.
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“At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) predicts that more than 50% of the region's population will be infected with Omicron within the next six to eight weeks,” explained the director of WHO Europe , Hans Kluge, during an online press conference, stressing that this variant had mutations "allowing it to adhere more easily to human cells, and which can infect even people who have been previously infected or vaccinated".
Over 7 million new cases in one week
The Old Continent - which has 53 countries and stretches as far as Central Asia - recorded more than 7 million new cases of Covid-19 in the first week of 2022. In addition, according to WHO data , since January 10, 26 countries have reported that more than 1% of their population tested positive for Covid-19 every week.
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For Hans Kluge, the "unprecedented" scale of transmission has led to an increase in hospitalizations, with the death rate remaining stable.
The wave "challenges health systems and service delivery in many countries where Omicron has spread at high speed, and threatens to spill over into many others," he said.