The World Health Organization chief has warned that it is too early for countries to either declare victory over Covid-19 or give up attempts to halt transmission. "It is premature for any country to either surrender or to declare victory," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes. "We're concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of Omicron's high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary," Mr Tedros added. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he added, stressing that "more Covid-19 transmission means more deaths".
The UN health agency chief pointed out that since Omicron was first spotted in southern Africa 10 weeks ago, nearly 90 million Covid cases have been reported to the WHO - more than in all of 2020.
And while the new Covid variant is known to be milder, he stressed that "we are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world." Denmark is first in EU to lift all domestic Covid curbs Denmark waved goodbye to face masks and health passes today as it became the first European Union country to lift all of its domestic Covid restrictions despite record numbers of cases of the Omicron variant.
Only a few restrictions remain in place at the country's borders, for unvaccinated travellers arriving from non-Schengen countries.