Britain’s seven-day average of cases has fallen by 30,000 from its peak,
The surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant may have peaked in some parts of Europe but doctors say the impact will continue to be felt across the region, with hospitals still at risk of facing a large number of hospitalized patients.
Health experts and politicians warn of complacency, saying it remains unclear whether their data reflects the full impact of the Christmas and New Year holidays, when families gather for long periods of time. home and the risk of virus transmission between generations may be greater.
In addition, although vaccination and the greater severity of the Omicron variant mean lower hospitalizations than in previous COVID-19 infections, Europe still accounts for about half of all cases and deaths. globally.
But there are growing signs that the rise in infections due to the Omicron variant, first identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong, is leveling off or even decreasing in some areas.
Spain’s prime minister said the number of infections was stabilizing for seven days and a French public health institute said the wave would peak in mid-January.
Hans Kluge, World Health Organization Director for Europe, said: “We see some places reaching a peak. It may be a little earlier than anticipated, but keep in mind that the region is very diversity,” said Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s European director, this week.
“So we have to keep in mind the eastern part of the region, the Central Asian republics, where this peak can still come.”
Health officials in Sweden and Switzerland say peaks in these two countries are expected to be reached by the end of this month.
Tanja Stadler, head of Switzerland’s COVID-19 science task force, told reporters: “We could reach a peak within the next two weeks if contact between people is at the same level. third.
The trend echoes the Omicron wave in Africa, which the WHO’s Africa office says appears to be stabilizing, making it the shortest spike in cases to date.
Denmark, where cases are dominated by Omicrons, eased some restrictions this week, with the Health Minister saying the outbreak in the country is now under control.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics says the rise in infections has slowed in the UK. An estimated one in 15 people were infected in the week ending January 6, the same as the week before.
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Despite the positive signs, politicians remain cautious.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Thursday that while hospital admissions are starting to slow, the health service will remain under pressure over the next few weeks.
“Omicron’s much larger transmission capacity is still likely to result in a significant number of people being hospitalized,” he said.
He said there were encouraging signs that infections were declining in London and eastern England but “we are currently still seeing increased infections in other parts of the country and the data are very strong.” does not yet reflect the impact of people going back to work and school” after Christmas and New Year.
Scotland, which has introduced tougher restrictions against Omicron than Britain, will begin lifting those measures on Monday.
However, suggesting that a stabilization in the number of cases is not seen everywhere, Italy’s National Institutes of Health on Friday said the weekly incidence and bed occupancy continued to increase for the week. this.
German virologist Christian Drosten warned on Friday that there are too many cases of Omicron and this reduces any benefit from it being milder than other variants, and Germany’s health minister said there are More coronavirus restrictions may be needed if hospitals are overwhelmed.
With Omicron initially spreading rapidly among young people, epidemiologists say its impact on hospitalized people can be unpredictable as it shifts to older age groups, even even as the number of header cases goes down.
But the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app, which collects data on self-reported symptoms to estimate prevalence in the UK, has found the Omicron wave has peaked and elderly cases have already peaked. stable at a low level.
Tim Spector, the app’s chief scientist, told Reuters: “It’s both going up very quickly and falling very quickly, and I think that’s good news, which means the pressure on hospitals will ease.
Even so, the Omicron variant is not going away, he said.
“It’s so contagious, there’s no way we can pretend it’s going to be down to trivial, but it has to be manageable,” he said.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
