Europe grapples with omicron response +++ New B.1.640.2 variant "no reason to panic" | Corona Update

Europe is preparing for an even bigger wave of new infections of COVID-19. The more contagious omicron variant is quickly becoming dominant. It's feared the number of new cases will climb to new records, as more testing is done following the holiday season. France's parliament is debating whether to limit access to more public spaces – and only allow entry for the vaccinated. Each country is grappling with the way forward.

The omicron variant should not be dismissed as being trivial Professor Martin McKee, a European public health expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told DW News.

"It's certainly milder than the delta variant, but I wouldn't say that is actually a dicease that you can just dismiss as being trivial. We are actually seeing quite a number of people being admitted to hospital, [if] not to anything like the same extent as before. Also, some worrying data from a number of countries that children are being admitted and some of them are getting seriously ill," he said.

McKee felt governments that introduced strict measures to try to prevent the spread of omicron were doing the right thing.


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