The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert yesterday; the impact was like that of a bomb blast. According to mathematical predictions, approximately 50% of the European population will be infected, or re-infected with COVID-19 in the next 6 to 8 weeks. This information leaves the world’s various health systems on full alert, with the very real possibility of serious ruptures to essential service delivery.
Despite the fact that the Omicron variant generally causes less severe disease and that a large proportion of the European population is vaccinated, the number of newly infected people in many countries is 10 times higher than this time last year. Even though the rates of hospitalisation are much lower than with previous waves, people can and will die from this variant.
We would like to remind everyone to take care and to strictly adhere to the known hygiene measures; the correct use of a surgical face mask rather than a cloth pad is highly recommended at this point.
Stay safe.
