Of . – 12.4.2022 10:40 am (act. 12.4.2022 10:40 am)
The end of the coronavirus pandemic has not yet been reached. ©Portal/Thomas Peter
From the point of view of the European director of the World Health Organization (WHO), the end of the corona pandemic has not yet been achieved.
You are in a more favorable phase than ever, but it is still a pandemic, said Hans Kluge of the German Press Agency. But he also sees signs that a new phase of the pandemic is just beginning.
Kluge cited the easier transmissibility and lower disease severity of the omicron-dominant variant in connection with greater population immunity as reasons.
Coronavirus: transition to endemic
Epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb sees Germany transitioning to endemic. Endemic means that the virus has taken up residence with us and will not go away. “Whether we reach the endemic situation can only be answered after the winter,” said Zeeb of the Leibniz Research Institute for Prevention and Epidemiology in Bremen. At the same time, he warned against underestimating the endemic condition. Endemic does not mean: “Now it’s all over, now we can sit down.”
“We must continue to be careful”
Even in an endemic state, the health system can be heavily stressed by the coronavirus. “We must continue to be careful, maintain measures, react quickly and not let it become a pandemic again.”