Copenhagen Jan. 11 (BNA): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that half of people living in Europe could be infected with the new and most transmissible Omicron strain of coronavirus in the next two months in a projection released on Tuesday.
Omicron represents a tidal wave sweeping the European region from west to east, adding to the increase in delta strain cases seen by countries in late 2021, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said in an online press conference.
Kluge said Omicron is fast becoming the dominant alternative in Western Europe and is now spreading to the Balkans.
More than 50 percent of the region’s population could become infected within the next six to eight weeks, given the current rate at which the variant is spreading, according to the IHME research institute based on model calculations.
Modeling for the European region suggests that a peak of more than 12 million infections per day will be reached by mid-January, although these peaks are expected to vary widely, with later peaks in Central Asia, a report two days ago, d b a.
Kluge said there were more than 7 million new cases of the Omicron strain in the first week of 2022 alone in the European region, more than doubling in a two-week period.
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