Ursula Von Der Leyen’s warning about the new omni-variant: “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”

Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, sends a warning message about the variant of the coronavirus: omicron. The new variant detected in Africa has already led to new restrictions and measures and several European countries are beginning to identify the first cases.

“The general line is to hope for the best, but to prepare for the worst,” Von Der Leyen said about this new variant. She also wanted to set a goal: “vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate”. Von Der Leyen calls on Europe to act “very quickly, decisively and together”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the global risk posed by the new omni-variant is “very high”, as they point out in a technical report on this new strain of Sars-CoV-2.

Given the high mutations of omicron, with the potential to be more resistant to immunization and more contagious, the risk of transmission of the variant worldwide is “high,” said the WHO report.

“There may be new waves of COVID-19 with serious consequences, depending on many factors, such as where those waves occur,” the report anticipated. WHO calls for certain priority actions, including “accelerating vaccination against Covid-19 as soon as possible, especially among populations at risk who remain unvaccinated”.

The UK Government has convened today an urgent meeting of G7 Health Ministers (consisting of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan and the European Union as guests) to address the omicron variant of coronavirus.

“Under the British Presidency an urgent meeting of G7 health ministers was convened on Monday, 29 November to discuss the evolution of the omicron,” the Health and Social Care portfolio, led by Sajid Javid, said in a statement.