Omicron to Soon Surpass Delta as Dominant Variant in Parts of Europe

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] European leaders and scientists have predicted that the COVID-19 variant Omicron may surpass the Delta variant and become the dominant strain in some European countries.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned in a national address on the 12th (local time) that "cases of the highly contagious Omicron infection are doubling every 2 to 3 days. A tidal wave of Omicron is approaching," and that Omicron will soon become the dominant strain.

BBC reported that as of the 12th, there were 3,137 confirmed Omicron variant cases in the UK. This is a sharp increase within two weeks after the first two cases were reported on the 27th of last month. The UK Health Security Agency (HSA) previously observed that Omicron is growing faster than Delta and predicted that Omicron would become the dominant strain in the UK by mid-month. It is expected that Omicron infections will exceed one million by the end of this month.

Nicola Sturgeon, head of the Scottish Government, stated on the 10th (local time) that "Omicron is expected to catch up with Delta not in weeks but within days," according to the US daily Washington Post (WP).

Albertsen Mars, a professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, also predicted that Omicron would become the dominant strain in Denmark before the end of this week.

Experts are closely watching the rapid spread of Omicron in South Africa, where it became the dominant strain within four weeks. However, since the level of COVID-19 infections was relatively low when Omicron first appeared in South Africa, and only a quarter of the population had completed vaccination, it is analyzed that more attention should be paid to whether Omicron will surpass Delta in Europe, where the majority of the population is fully vaccinated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.