Omicron might quickly trigger over half of Covid infections in Europe: EU

The European Union’s public well being company mentioned on Thursday that the Omicron variant may very well be chargeable for greater than half of all Covid-19 infections in Europe inside a couple of months.
The estimate may lend weight to preliminary details about the very excessive transmissibility of the Omicron variant, above that of the Delta variant, which earlier than Omicron was thought-about probably the most contagious of the principle coronavirus strains.

“Based on mathematical modelling conducted by ECDC, there are indications that Omicron could cause over half of all SARS-CoV-2 infections in the EU/EEA within the next few months,” the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control mentioned in an announcement.
There isn’t any conclusive proof about Omicron’s transmissibility to date however the World Health Organization’s lead individual on COVID-19, Maria van Kerkhove, mentioned on Wednesday the company anticipated to have information on this inside days.

Europe has to date recorded a couple of dozens of infections with the Omicron variant, which was first detected in southern Africa final month.
The European Union and European Economic Area (EEA) embrace the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Earlier on Thursday, the French authorities’s prime scientific adviser Jean-Francois Delfraissy mentioned that Omicron may take Delta’s place already by the tip of January.