omicron news: Half of Europe will be infected with Omicron in short order 17th January 2022 – Posted in: Uncategorised – Tags: ,

Since the release of this variant, we haven’t stopped hearing omicron news, so here’s another one “Half of Europe will be infected with Omicron in short order”.

The World Health Organisation(WHO) has warned that half of Europe will have been infected with the Omicron variant of Covid within the next six to eight weeks. Dr Hans Kluge said a “west-to-east tide” of Omicron was sweeping the region, along with an increase in the Delta variant. The projection turned into primarily based totally at the seven million new instances said throughout Europe withinside the first week of 2022.

The number of infections more than doubled in a two-week period. “Today, the Omicron variation represents a brand new tidal wave from west to east, spreading throughout the vicinity further to the Delta wave that every one nations had been coping with till the give up of 2021. ” Dr Kluge told a news conference.

He cited the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation as predicting that “more than 50 per cent of the region’s population will be infected with Omicron in the next six to eight weeks”.

He stated European and Central Asian nations continue to be under “extreme pressure” because the virus spreads from Western nations to the Balkans. “How every united states responds now should be knowledgeable with the aid of using its epidemiological situation, to be had resources, vaccination reputation and socio-financial context.” he added.

Recent studies and omicron news suggest that Omicron is less likely to cause severe disease than previous Covid variants. But Omicron remains incredibly contagious and might infect humans although they’re completely vaccinated. The record number of people who have contracted it has put health systems under severe pressure.

On Monday, the UK reported another 142,224 confirmed cases of the virus and 77 deaths. Several hospitals have declared “critical” incidents due to staff absences and increasing pressure caused by Covid. Elsewhere, the variety of hospitals is likewise increasing, French health minister Olivier Veran warned last week that January would be a tough month for hospitals.

He added that Omicron patients were occupying “conventional” hospital beds, while Delta was putting pressure on ICU departments. In eastern Europe, Poland reported that 100,000 people had died from the virus in the country since the start of the pandemic. Poland now has the world’s sixth highest death rate from Covid-19, and almost 40 per cent of its population remains unvaccinated.

In Russia, Russia’s top consumer health official, Anna Popova, told a meeting of the government’s working group on coronaviruses that if no action is taken to control the spread of the virus, the daily number of new Covid cases could reach 100,000. The daily infection rate had recently dropped from a peak of 41,335 cases in early November, Reuters news agency reports. Ms Popova said 305 known cases of the Omicron variant had been detected so far, in 13 regions of the country. Russia has recorded at least 311,281 deaths and 10.5 million cases to date.

On Monday, pharmaceutical company Pfizer said it may launch a version of its vaccine offering special protection against Omicron, to be launched in March. Health experts say it is not yet clear whether this is necessary.