A member of the public wearing a face covering to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, walks beneath a Union flag as he enters Westminster Station in central London on January 5, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
More than half of people in Europe are on track to contract the Omicron coronavirus variant in the next two months if infections continue at current rates, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
"At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) forecasts that more than 50 percent of the population in the region will be infected with Omicron in the next six to eight weeks," Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO's European office, told a press conference.
