Hans Kluge

At least 1.4 million lives have been saved in Europe thanks to Covid vaccines, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, recalling that the virus was "here to stay".

The government of Cyprus said Wednesday it will require all passengers arriving from China to produce evidence of a negative coronavirus test as the Asian country grapples with a nationwide Covid-19 outbreak.

The Omicron variant has moved the Covid pandemic into a new phase and is likely to bring it to an end in Europe, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe said on Sunday.

"It is plausible that the region is moving towards the final phase of the pandemic," Hans Kluge told AFP, adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.

The Omicron variant has moved the COVID-19 pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe, the WHO Europe director has said.

"It's plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame," Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview on Jan. 23, adding that Omicron could infect 60 percent of Europeans by March.

One in ten people in the WHO European Region will be infected with COVID-19 by the end of this week. This was stated by the regional director of the organization Hans Kluge at a briefing.

The COVID-19 vaccine has saved 469,186 lives for people aged 60 and over in 33 countries in the WHO European Region since the start of the vaccination campaign. This is evidenced by the results of a new study by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the organizations said in a press release, quoted by TASS.

Daily COVID infections hit an all-time high in Germany on Nov. 4 as the World Health Organization warned that another 500,000 people could die across Europe, with cases once again on the rise.

Teachers and school staff should be among the groups prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations so that schools in Europe and Central Asia can stay open, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef said on Aug. 30.

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Ljubljana – WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge was received by President Borut Pahor and Health Minister Janez Poklukar as he arrived in Slovenia on Wednesday. In a press statement, they all stressed the importance of vaccination and warned of the rapid spread of the Delta variant in view of the resurgence of infections.

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The World Health Organization said on July 2 that Covid-19 tests should be carried out in schools in some circumstances to avoid the "harmful" effects of closures and remote learning.