If you have not caught omicron during this Christmas you are a lucky person. The latest wave of this strain of coronavirus has been characterized as highly contagious, although with slightly milder symptoms in most of those infected. Such is the speed at which this new version of the virus spreads, that The OMS He has already made his contagion forecasts in a few weeks. According to the international institution, more than 50% of the European population will be infected with omicron within the next 6 or 8 weeks.
Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, has communicated at a press conference the institution’s concern about the massive increase in infections. Also because of the increased pressure on hospitals. As well as overcrowded health centers on Christmas days before the constant increase of infections by omicron. It has also added concern about the effect that this strain could have on unvaccinated groups of people; six times more exposed to contagion than those vaccinated.
Even so, the regional director has wanted to be cautious in terms of future predictions about the evolution of the virus beyond the omicron variant. Also about the latest political attempts to start considering the coronavirus as an endemic disease. The flu Covid-19, which was explained by the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez in statements to the SER; which implies stopping counting infections and treating the disease as another one on the list.
According to experts and as a consequence of the latest cases of omicron infections worldwide, it’s too early to get to this point. Only in Spain, there are 292,394 new infected and 202 deaths on Monday. Contagion data that, in fact, do not take into account the infections caused by pharmacy antigens.
If the WHO points to a contagion of 50% of the population in a few weeks, we would be talking about practically an entire continent with a viral load per omicron. Of course, with mild symptoms and many asymptomatic. Especially with 90% of the population over 12 years vaccinated. And the rest is on the way to achieving the milestone of the third dose for a large part of the population.