WHO: Europe entering ‘plausible endgame’ to Covid pandemic

Even if another variant emerges, Dr Hans Kluge said, health authorities in Europe should be able to keep it in check, provided immunisation and boosting efforts continue, along with other public health interventions

Hans Kluge, regional director for Europe at the World Health Organisation (Zoltan Mathe/MTI via AP)

The director of the World Health Organisation’s Europe office said on Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.

Dr Hans Kluge said at a media briefing that there is a “singular opportunity” for countries across Europe to take control of Covid-19 transmission due to three factors: high levels of immunisation due to vaccination and natural infection, the virus’s tendency to spread less in warmer weather and the lower severity of the Omicron variant.