The ECDC also called for tightening contact tracing and using travel restrictions sparingly.
The new omicron variant could account for half of the coronavirus infections in the European Economic Area (EEA) “in a few months,” the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned today.
This reference body of the European Union (EU) stressed that although there are “uncertainties” about the transmissibility, severity and escape To omicron immunity, preliminary data indicate a “substantial advantage” over delta.
“The greater the growth advantage over delta and the greater its circulation in the EU and EEA, the shorter the time expected until omicron causes the majority of infections of SARS-CoV-2″ Warned the ECDC in a statement referring to various mathematical models.
The director of this Stockholm-based agency, Andrea Ammon, admitted that the evidence on omicron is “limited” and that a multi-layered approach is necessary to curb its expansion.
“Vaccines for those who have not yet been vaccinated or have not completed the regimen and booster doses for those over 40 years of age are essential,” said Ammon, who urged the application of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as safe distance, ventilation of closed spaces and working from home if you are sick.
The ECDC also called for reinforcing contact tracing and using travel restrictions sparingly, which in any case should be updated according to the evidence that emerges.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized yesterday that covid vaccines could be less effective against the new variant, but insisted that the alarm should not spread and clarified that they would continue to protect against serious forms of the disease.
In its weekly epidemiological report, the WHO, which has so far received notifications of cases of the new variant from 23 countries, indicates that some mutations “could increase their transmission capacity and / or allow a certain degree of escape from immunity.” (I)
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