Omicron offers hope pandemic could stabilise, WHO official says

The astonishing spread of the omicron variant could help set the stage for the pandemic to transition from overwhelming to manageable in Europe this year, a top health official said Monday, potentially offering the world a glimpse at how countries can ease restrictions while keeping the virus at bay.

That hint of hope came with a heavy dose of caution: Immunity from the surge of infections will probably wane, and new variants are likely to emerge, leaving the world vulnerable to surges that could strain health systems. In the United States, where vaccination rates are lower and death rates are considerably higher than in Western Europe, there are bigger hurdles on the path to taming the pandemic.

Dr Hans Kluge, director for the World Health Organization’s European region, warned in a statement released Monday that it was too early for nations to drop their guard, with so many people unvaccinated around the world. But, he said, between vaccination and natural immunity through infection, “omicron offers plausible hope for stabilisation and normalisation.”

The question that remains, however, is what a new normal looks like and how long it could last.

While Kluge said he believed that Europe could withstand new waves without resorting to lockdowns, countries there are still working to determine what other measures they may use. New antiviral pills are more readily available in Europe than in other parts of the world, scientists said, but countries still need to administer them more quickly.

Experts said that precautions like testing and isolating would remain essential. And if coronavirus cases climb in the coming winters, scientists said, short-term mask mandates could be a way of suppressing cases to help hospitals dealing with other respiratory illnesses, too.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, said Monday that the emergency phase of the pandemic was still very much here.

“It’s dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame,” Tedros said at an executive board meeting of the organisation. “On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”

No previous variant has spread nearly as fast as omicron, with reported coronavirus cases rocketing from about 600,000 a day worldwide in early December to more than 3 million a day now.

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