The Omicron variant has moved the coronavirus pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe, said the World Health Organization’s Europe director.

Hans Kluge said in an interview that the region is possibly moving towards a pandemic endgame. He added that the Omicron variant could infect around 60% of Europeans by the month of March. He said that once the ongoing surge of Omicron infections across Europe subsides, there will be a global immunity for some weeks and months, probably due to the vaccines or because people would have immunity due to the infection, as well as lowering seasonality. Kluge said that they expect a period of quiet before COVID-19 may come back by the end of this year, “but not necessarily the pandemic coming back.” (NDTV – AFP, January 24, 2022)