Thursday, March 28, 2024
News

7 mn Omicron cases detected in Europe last week: WHO

   SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

Brussels | Tuesday, 2022 11:15:07 PM IST
There were more than seven million new cases of the Omicron variant across Europe in the first week of January, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

According to Hans Kluge, WHO Europe Director, 26 countries in the region reported that more than 1 per cent of their populations are being infected with Covid each week, The Telegraph reported.

Kluge warned that there is now a "closing window of opportunity" for countries to prevent their health systems from being overwhelmed.

He cited estimates from the Institute of Health Metrics at the University of Washington which projected that half of the population in Western Europe will be infected with Covid in the next six to eight weeks.

"Omicron moves faster and wider than any (previous) variants we have seen," he was quoted as saying at a media briefing.

Kluge also called for countries to mandate the use of masks indoors and to prioritise vaccination, including booster dose of at-risk population, including health workers and elderly people.

Further, he said that as Omicron moves east across the European continent, the variant will take a much higher toll on countries with lower vaccination coverage rates.

Covid hospitalisation rate, in Denmark, was six times higher in people who weren't vaccinated compared to those who had been immunised, Kluge noted.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had previously pleaded with the rich countries not to offer booster doses and to donate them instead to poorer countries where vulnerable groups are yet to be immunised.

"No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," he said, adding that the current vaccines "remain effective against both the Delta and Omicron variants".

--IANS rvt/arm

( 292 Words)

2022-01-11-17:14:03 (IANS)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS ()
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
 
MORE HEALTH NEWS
Study finds how childhood sedentariness ...
Longer genes are associated with ageing...
Dr. Dangs Lab aims to revolutionise heal...
Researchers find ways to reduce side eff...
Study gives insight into role of specifi...
Collaborative study between bariatric, t...
More...
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
Vijay Shivtare meets Maharashtra CM and ...
Satellite-based toll collection system t...
'Don't have that kind of money to contes...
BJP appoints CR Kesavan as national spok...
'Was working on the ideas of PM Modi': N...
'Don't have that kind of money to contes...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
"CM should apologise to people of C... 
About 80,000 leaders, workers from ... 
Pakistan: Company halts work on pow... 
JISA Softech Secures MoU for Advanc... 
Lok Sabha polls: BJP holds core com... 
L'Oreal Professionnel brings Indian... 
"Government open to change in Agniv... 
PIL seeks seamless internet connect...