The Omicron variant has taken the Covid-19 pandemic to a new stage and could end it in Europe, said the WHO director for Europe.
"It is plausible that the region is heading for a phase that is the end of the pandemic," Hans Kluge told Agence France-Presse, adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.
Once Omicron's growth, which will cover the whole of Europe, decreases, "there will be global immunity for many weeks and months, either because of the vaccine or because people are immune to the infection."
"We anticipate that there will be a period of calm before Covid-19 can return by the end of the year, but not necessarily for the pandemic to return," Kluge said.
The most famous American scientist Anthony Fauci expressed a similar optimism on Sunday, saying in the show "This Week" on ABC News that with the cases of Covid-19 that landed "quite sharply" in different parts of the United States, " "Things look good."
The WHO regional office for Africa also said last week that Covid cases had dropped in that region and deaths were falling for the first time since the fourth wave of the Omicron-dominated virus reached its peak.
The Omicron variant, which studies have shown to be more contagious than Delta but generally leads to less severe infection especially for vaccinated people, has raised long-awaited hopes that Covid-19 has begun to move from a pandemic to a disease more manageable endemic as seasonal flu.
But Kluge warned it was still too early to consider Covid-19 endemic.
"There is a lot of talk about endemic tools, but by 'endemic' it means that it is possible to predict what will happen. "This virus has surprised us more than once, so we have to be very careful," Kluge said.
With Omicron so widespread, other variants could still emerge, he warned.
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