Geneva, Dec 21: People must cancel or postpone their holiday plans to bring an end to the pandemic in 2022, said World Health Organisation chief amid the rise in Omicron cases.
“An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled. It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later, than to celebrate now and grieve later,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a briefing on Monday.
His remarks came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared Omicron as the dominant variant in the US. Omicron has caused over 73 per cent new Covid-19 cases in the US last week, CDC data stated.
The WHO chief said there is “consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant” and people who have been either vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 could also get infected or re-infected.
While calling for an end to pandemic by 2022, he said, “It must also be the year that all countries invest in preventing a future disaster on this scale, and in accelerating efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
To prevent the spread of Omicron over the Christmas period, The Netherlands has introduced a strict lockdown.
Meanwhile, several countries, including France and Germany, have tightened Covid-19 restrictions and even imposed travel curbs to control the spread of the new variant.
