However, WHO Europe chief Hans Kluge continues to urge caution because of possible new virus mutations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers an end to the corona pandemic in Europe to be possible after the current omicron wave. “It is plausible that the region is moving towards an end phase of the pandemic,” WHO Europe chief Hans Kluge told the AFP news agency on Sunday. At the same time, however, he warned of caution because of possible further mutations in the corona virus.
Kluge explained that when the current omicron wave in Europe has subsided, there will be “global immunity for a few weeks and months, either thanks to vaccination or because people have immunity because of an infection”. In addition, there are seasonal effects, added the WHO representative with a view to the upcoming spring and summer.
“So we are preparing for the fact that there will be a period of calm before Covid-19 could come back towards the end of the year, but the pandemic is not necessarily coming back,” Kluge summarized his expectations.
According to WHO estimates, 60 percent of all people in Greater Europe could have been infected with the omicron variant by March. WHO Europe, which is based in Copenhagen, is responsible for 53 countries and territories not only in Europe but also in Central Asia.
Omicron is highly contagious, but according to previous studies, it usually causes diseases with a milder course than earlier virus variants. A good two years after the beginning of the corona pandemic, during the current omicron wave, there is increasing hope that corona will develop from a pandemic into an endemic infection, which, like the flu, will be permanent and frequent in a limited region or in parts of the world population occurs.
Kluge told AFP: “There is a lot of talk about an endemic, but endemic means (…) that it is possible to predict what will happen.” The Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus “surprised us more than once, so we have to be very careful”. Regarding the currently sensible strategy against Corona, Kluge said that instead of concentrating on limiting the contagion, the focus should currently be on protecting particularly vulnerable people.