Omicron detected in 38 of 53 countries in WHO’s European region

BELGIUM, SWITZERLAND ,NEW ZEALAND ,UK: The World Health Organization’s European head on Tuesday warned countries to brace for a “significant surge” in COVID-19 cases as Omicron spreads, and advised the widespread use of boosters for protection.

Since it emerged in late November, Omicron has been detected in at least 38 of the 53 countries in the WHO’s European region and is already dominant in several of them including Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom, Hans Kluge told a news conference in Vienna.

“We can see another storm coming,” said Kluge. “Within weeks, Omicron will dominate in more countries of the region, pushing already stretched health systems further to the brink.”

The WHO’s Europe region includes Russia and other former Soviet republics, as well as Turkey.

WHO data shows the region has in recent weeks reported the highest number of CCVID-19 cases compared to the population size anywhere. Even before Omicron, officials had warned of a further 700,000 deaths from the disease by March.

WHO headquarters in Geneva has advised that vaccine boosters be saved for the most vulnerable, but Kluge urged people to “boost, boost, boost.” “The booster is the single most important defence against Omicron,” he said. Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of fatalities worldwide due to COVID-19 in 2021 was more than those from HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined in 2020.

“That’s not to mention the unreported deaths, and the millions of excess deaths caused by disruptions to essential health services,” he added.

Tedros informed that more than 3.3 million people have lost their lives to COVID-19 this year – more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020, and still, COVID-19 continues to claim around 50 000 lives every week.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s medicine regulator on Tuesday approved a new COVID-19 medicine Ronapreve, which can both prevent and treat the disease though it is not a substitute for vaccination, and its effectiveness against the Omicron variant is yet to be demonstrated.

Ronapreve is a monoclonal antibody drug that mimics the body’s natural defenses for fighting disease, Chris James, group manager at the Health Ministry’s medicine regulatory arm Medsafe, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, In the face of the rising omicron threat, the Queen has cancelled the Christmas lunch she was planning to host on her Sandringham estate for some 50 members of her family.

Instead, she will remain at Windsor Castle where a few close relatives will drop in to ensure she is not alone on Christmas Day.

At a time when many people are unsure whether they should cut back on their Christmas activities, the view among royal watchers is that the Queen has set an example.

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES,IANS, THE TELEGRAPH INDIA