The European continent is now entering a “plausible final phase” of the pandemic, with the number of coronavirus deaths starting to level off, the head of the World Health Organization’s European office said on Thursday.

Dr Hans Kluge told a media briefing that countries in Europe had a “rare opportunity” to control the spread of COVID-19 due to three factors: high levels of immunity due to vaccination and natural infection, the tendency for the virus to spread in warmer weather Reduced in weather and less severe in omicron variants.

“This period of increased protection should be seen as a ceasefire that can bring us lasting peace,” he said.

As winter subsides across much of Europe in the coming weeks, the spread of the virus will naturally decline, and Krueger said the coming spring “makes it possible for us to achieve long-term tranquility and a higher level of population defense against any spread of the virus.” Resurrection.”

Even if another variant emerges, health authorities in Europe should be able to contain it, provided immunizations and intensified efforts continue, among other public health interventions, Kruger said.

However, he said that would require a “dramatic and uncompromising increase in vaccine sharing across borders”, adding that vaccines must be made available to everyone in Europe and beyond. Scientists have repeatedly warned that unless the majority of the world’s population is vaccinated, any chance of COVID-19 continuing to spread means it could mutate into a more deadly, more easily transmissible form.

Many countries in Europe, including the UK and Denmark, have dropped nearly all coronavirus restrictions after saying omicron had peaked. Other countries, including Spain, are now considering whether to treat COVID-19 as an endemic problem that could be more like seasonal flu.

At WHO headquarters in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the world is still far from over from the pandemic.

Tedros said on Tuesday: “We are concerned that because a vaccine – and because of omicron’s high transmissibility and low severity – it is no longer possible or necessary to stop transmission, and this argument has taken hold in some countries. Heel.” “Nothing is far from the truth.”

Even countries with high levels of vaccination should not bow to political pressure to release all coronavirus measures immediately, the agency said.

Krueger pointed to 12 million new coronavirus cases in the WHO European region last week, the highest total in a single week during the pandemic. The spike, he said, was driven by a highly contagious variant of the omicron, but there had not been a significant increase in hospital intensive care unit admissions.