Based on reports, the director of WHO Europe on Sunday (Jan 24), noted that the region may be going into its final phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, after Omicron.
"It's plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame," he said, adding that by March almost 60% of Europeans would be infected with Omicron.
"Once the current surge of Omicron currently 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.
"So 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.
"There is a lot of talk about endemic but endemic means, that it is possible to predict what's going to happen. This virus has surprised us more than once so we have to be very careful", he noted.
The Omicron variant although highly infectious has since shown less severe impacts on the vaccinated, as compared to the Delta, raising long-awaited hopes: Covid shifting to a more manageable seasonal flu.
