The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire planet, killing hundreds of millions of people, and many of them have lost their lives. With each new strain, the authorities act instinctively in a regime of conservation and protection. Restrictive measures are taken, travel rules apply and even regional blockages apply.
Omicron has managed to hysterize the entire planet. It is a new strain of COVID-19, which has been shown to be extremely contagious. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that in the last seven days alone, France has registered almost two million new cases of COVID-19 (1.854.631), Italy 1.158.234, Spain 690.129 and Germany 342.973.
The new COVID-19, which was detected at the end of November last year, is more transmissible than others. For this reason, the WHO has warned that half of Europe will be infected with the Omicron virus variant in the next two months.
However, the variant that seemed quite scary at first turned out to be a lighter version of the virus. Those who became infected had less severe symptoms, many of them even asymptomatic. In this context, hospitalizations, especially in intensive care, have decreased.
As a result, many countries in the world, including the Member States of the European Union, are considering treating coronavirus as the flu. According to Bloomberg, Spain was the first EU country to suggest that people start getting used to COVID-19, inviting the rest of the Member States to start treating the virus as an endemic disease.
"We need to evaluate the evolution of Covid from a pandemic to an endemic disease"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in an interview on January 10th."
As a result, several European countries have considered reducing the quarantine period for those vaccinated and unvaccinated, to apply new restrictive measures that are easier to bear. It is true that there are countries that have called for the raising of standards regarding facial masks. Romania recommends medicinal and FFP2 masks for protection.
For example, Estonia has shortened its quarantine obligation from ten to seven days. Similarly, Iceland has shortened the quarantine period to seven days. Previously, the country had a ten-day quarantine requirement for those who contracted the virus. The decision was made after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it would shorten the quarantine period to five days for US citizens.
At the same time, quarantine in Slovenia can now be completed on the fifth day after a negative COVID-19 test. Prior to January 10, the test could only be taken on the seventh day.
While shortening the quarantine period, EU countries have also shortened the validity of vaccination certificates in an attempt to push more people to receive booster vaccines. The vaccine has been shown to lose its strength over time. At the same time, it was shown that those vaccinated were better protected against COVID-19 variants.
In conclusion, we must return to normal, without restrictions and other anti-covid measures. Authorities must be careful not to take more casualties than COVID-19.