Arabic wrote:
The World Health Organization considered that Europe may be on the way out of the Covid-19 epidemic, two years after the emergence of this disease in the old continent, where the mutant Omicron is likely to infect 60% of the population by next March..
“It is possible that the region is nearing the end of the epidemic,” the director of the European branch of the World Health Organization, Hans Kluge, told AFP on Sunday, but he urged caution against the reality of the virus changing..
He added: “When the Omicron wave subsides, there will be group immunity for weeks and months, either thanks to the vaccine or because people will have immunity due to infection and also a decline due to the season.”“.
The World Health Organization is therefore betting on a “quiet period before the possible return of Covid-19 towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the return of the epidemic.”“.
In South Africa, where this mutation first appeared, a trend has been observed towards a decrease in the number of new cases in the past four weeks..
With the same cautious optimism, White House adviser Anthony Fauci considered Sunday that the situation in the United States can be expected to “change”.
“very careful“
But Kluge stressed: “We are not in the stage of an endemic disease“.
He explained, “That the disease is endemic means that we can expect what will happen, but this virus has raised a surprise more than once. We must therefore be very careful,” especially since Omicron has been the dominant virus so far in countries with strong vaccination coverage..
Besides the persistence of the delta mutant, other mutants may appear.
And in the Europe region, according to the classification of the World Health Organization, which is 53 countries, including countries located in Central Asia, the mutant Omicron on January 18 accounted for 15% of new cases of Covid, which is much higher than it was in the previous week, according to WHO figures..
And in the 27 European Union countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, this mutant appeared at the end of November and is more contagious than Delta and is now the dominant mutant, according to the European Health Agency..
As for Russia, it announced on Sunday a new record of daily infections with the Corona virus for the third consecutive day, in an infection caused by Omicron.
Change public policies
With the number of infections soaring, it is now a question of “reducing disruption and protecting people at risk” and no longer focusing solely on reducing transmission, Kluge added..
In this context, Kluge called for everyone’s responsibility.
He said, “Everyone should assess the risks himself,” explaining, “If you feel that you are not well, stay at home and do a self-test. If the result is positive, isolate yourself.“.
The goal is to stabilize the health situation across Europe, where the gap in vaccines against Covid-19 is very large, ranging between 25 and 95% of the population, depending on the countries in the region, which can lead to varying degrees of hospital overcrowding..
“Stabilizing the situation means that the health system is no longer overwhelmed by Covid-19 and that it can continue to provide basic health services that have been disrupted, in the areas of cancer, heart disease and vaccination,” Kluge said.“.
He believed that “this is not the time to take a big risk. It is still required that people be encouraged to receive the vaccine, take the booster dose, and follow the preventive measures.”“.
On the other hand, in response to a question about the necessity of receiving a fourth dose to reach the end of the tunnel in relation to the epidemic, Kluge expressed caution, pointing out at the same time that “immunity increases after each vaccine dose.”