World

Omicron dominates EU Covid-19 cases with 75% pooled prevalence

WHO warns variant could infect half of region by March

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 22 Jan 2022 12:05PM

Omicron dominates EU Covid-19 cases with 75% pooled prevalence
Covid-19 infections are soaring across Europe, with an increase of 9% in the region in the past week. – AFP pic, January 22, 2022

STOCKHOLM – Omicron is now the dominant Covid-19 variant circulating in the European Union and European Economic Area (EAA), the bloc’s health agency said yesterday.

“The transmission category for Omicron in the EU/EEA changed from community to dominant,” the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its weekly update on communicable disease threats.

The EEA includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The ECDC said Omicron, which was first discovered in South Africa, is now “dominant in the majority of EU/EEA countries”, with a “78% pooled prevalence”.

Covid-19 is currently soaring across Europe, with cases increasing by 9% in the region in the past week, according to an AFP database.

The World Health Organisation said last week that Omicron could infect half of all people in the region by March. – AFP, January 22, 2022

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