Omicron to be dominant variant in EU by mid-January

BRUSSELS (AP) — Omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the European Union's 27 nations by mid-January, the bloc's top official said Wednesday amid concerns that a dramatic rise in infections will leave Europe shrouded in gloom during the holiday season.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is well prepared to fight omicron with 66.6% of its population fully vaccinated.

She expressed disappointment that the pandemic will again disrupt year-end celebrations but said she was confident the EU has the “strength” and “means” to overcome COVID-19.

“Like many of you, I'm sad that once again this Christmas will be overshadowed by the pandemic,” she said.

That EU figure for vaccinations obscures the fact that some EU nations like Portugal and Spain have very high vaccination rates while others are lagging way behind.

Bulgaria has just 26.6% of its people fully vaccinated, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Continental Europe can look at Britain for a sense of what lies ahead as omicron spreads, for United Kingdom officials say it will be the dominant variant there within days.

The head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, said omicron is displaying a staggering growth rate compared to previous variants.

“The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening, i.e. it's doubling faster, growing faster,” Harries told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

“In most regions in the UK, it is now under two days. When it started, we were estimating about four or five.''

Harries said the variant poses “probably the most significant threat we've had since the start of the pandemic.”

Alarming rises in infections as winter approached and the delta variant remained at large prompted many European governments to implement public health measures as excess mortality increased during the fall.

The head of the World Health Organization says 77 countries have reported cases of omicron, but that the variant is probably in most countries by now, just not yet detected.

WHO says data is still coming in and much remains unknown about the new variant. According to an analysis Tuesday of data from South Africa, where omicron is driving a surge in infections, the variant seems to be more easily spread from person to person and better at evading vaccines, but also milder.

“Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. We are concerned that people are dismissing omicron as mild,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“Surely we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril.”

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