World Health Organization: Half of Europe's residents will be infected with Omicron within two months

The organization clarified that despite the rapid spread of the contagious strain and the apparent decline in the severity of the epidemic, it is too early to determine that it is on its way to behaving like seasonal flu.

In China, local closures were expanded and another 5 million were asked to stay in homes, and Chile joined Israel and began vaccinating in a fourth dose.

News agencies

11/01/2022

Tuesday, 11 January 2022, 12:56 Updated: 16:14

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In video: China expands closure (Photo: Reuters, Edited by: Aviad Ballali)

The World Health Organization said today (Tuesday) that about half of Europeans are expected to be infected with the omicron strain within two months at the current rate of infection - but stressed that this does not mean that corona is on its way to becoming a seasonal disease like flu at this stage.

The organization said that in the first week of 2022, seven million new cases were recorded in Europe, a figure that more than doubled in two weeks.

Hans Klooga, who is in charge of Europe's Europe in the organization, said that 50 of the 53 countries on the continent and in Central Asia reported being infected with Omicron.

According to information gathered in the weeks since it was first discovered in South Africa, the omicron is less lethal compared to other strains because it mainly affects the upper respiratory tract and not health.

Despite this, the World Health Organization has said further studies are needed to confirm this.

Children return to school after Christmas break in Lisbon, Portugal, January 10, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)

Yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that it might be necessary to change the ways of monitoring the corona and use a method similar to how to treat the flu, as the lethality of the disease has subsided.

The meaning of such a move is to treat the virus as an endemic disease, and not as a pandemic, with no record of each case and no examination of anyone who has experienced its symptoms.

Catherine Smallwood, Europe's emergency director at the World Health Organization, stressed that the change in corona disease was still a long way off.

According to her, for this to happen, the ways in which the virus is transmitted must be stable and predictable.

"There is still tremendous uncertainty and the virus is developing quite rapidly, posing new challenges," she told reporters.

"We are certainly not at a stage that can be called endemic."

She says it may happen at some point, but it is difficult to commit now that it will happen this year.

China: Another 5 million people have been quarantined

In China, another five million people were put in quarantine today as part of its determined fight against the spread of the omicron, just weeks before the start of the Winter Games in Beijing. After two cases of the contagious variant were identified in the city of Aniang in Henan Province, authorities announced a closure last night and residents were required to lock themselves in houses and not drive on roads.

According to the Chinese media, all non-essential businesses were closed, travel outside the city was restricted and mass testing began "in response to the serious epidemiological situation and to firmly prevent the spread of the omicron virus".

The government channel CCTV reported 58 new local cases in the city, and a total of 84 since Saturday. It is not clear if the new cases are related to Omicron. At least three cities in the province are battling local outbreaks of the virus. The provincial capital, Zhengzhou, has closed schools and kindergartens and banned restaurants from accepting customers. Last week, a million residents of the city of HughesAnd were required to remain in their homes.

Corona tests in Tianjin city, Siu, January 9, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)

In Tianjin, a major port city located just 150 km from the capital Beijing - residents are not allowed to leave the city without official approval and all 14 million of its residents were required to undergo tests. In addition, the commuter train lines were canceled. Mass inspection

In Xi'an, northern China, the tight closure entered its third week, and the number of infected in the local outbreak reached 2,000. In Shenzhen, across the border with Hong Kong in southern China, several residential complexes were closed and mass inspections began following a few infected.

Chile is starting to vaccinate in a fourth dose

The omicron is spreading rapidly not only in China and Europe, but also in South America. Chile, which has experienced a spike in morbidity, began vaccinating some of its citizens in a fourth dose - thus joining Israel, which was the first in the world to offer a second booster dose. The first to receive the fourth dose will have weak immune systems, and the campaign will expand to people 55 and older next month.

Chile vaccinated in two doses more than 14 million of its citizens who are more than three years old, out of a total of 19 million people, and about 11.3 million have already received a third dose. The fourth dose will be given in the vaccines of the Chinese "Synovak", which were the first to be given in the country, Pfizer and Astraznica.

President Sebastian Paneira, who visited a hospital in the capital Santiago where four doses were given, called on citizens to get vaccinated and said the vaccines were "safe and effective". He attacked those who refused to be vaccinated and called them "irresponsible". He said, "If you are not vaccinated, you will be infected, you will infect your families,Parents and co-workers. "

A man receives a fourth dose of corona vaccine in Santiago, Chile, January 10, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)

Elsewhere on the continent, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru have set records in the number of infections in recent weeks.

Even Brazil, the largest country in the region, has a re-jump in morbidity and experts warn that the situation is probably worse than official figures say.

According to them, the data is unreliable due to a malfunction in the databases caused by the hackers and due to missing tests.

Brazil, in which the death toll from Corona is second only to the United States, has begun vaccinating its citizens in a third dose.

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