WHO says Europe entering a ‘cease-fire’ in battle with covid as protection grows

“This period of higher protection should be seen as a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” he said. “This context, that we have not experienced so far in this pandemic, leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility.”

The European region has recorded 12 million new cases in the past week, he added — the highest weekly case incidence since the start of the pandemic — largely driven by the omicron variant. Hospitalizations are also increasing, but overall, admissions to intensive care units have not increased significantly, he said, and the number of deaths across the region were also starting to plateau.

On Tuesday, Denmark became the first European Union nation to scrap almost all pandemic restrictions, with officials stating covid-19 was no longer “a socially critical disease.” A number of other European countries including Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and France this week also announced they would be moving to phase out many social restrictions, some despite rising numbers of infections.

Kluge said “even with a more virulent variant” than omicron potentially on the horizon, the continent was still in a better position and could likely avoid “reinstalling the kind of disruptive measures we needed before,” he added.

In January, the WHO marked two years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and central Asia and said the region was “entering a new phase” with “plausible hope for stabilization and normalization.” But despite growing global immunity and encouraging downward trends of infections, the public health body has also cautioned that “our work is not done.”

Speaking last month, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergency phase of the pandemic could end this year if 70 percent of the population of every country is vaccinated and vaccines are more equitably distributed, among other criteria.

But he also doused his optimism with a strong note of caution. “It is dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant, or that we are in the endgame,” Tedros said at an executive board meeting.