Serbia is being warned: "Get ready"

Serbia is being warned: "Get ready"

The omicron strain would be dominant in it.

"Regardless of the declining trend of those infected in the last 10 weeks, Serbia should not relax, but prepare for the potentially new wave that we are already seeing in other countries," Scano said.

In a statement for the holiday issue of "Blic", he emphasized that eight of the ten countries in which the most infected people were reported in Europe, although that, as he points out, did not have much effect on the number of deaths.

Head of the WHO Office in Serbia says that it is expected that the omicron strain will become dominant in Europe and our region and that it could lead to the breakdown of health systems.

"We still don't know if omicron causes more severe forms of delta strain, but what we do know is that the number of new infections with that strain could lead to more hospitalizations and disrupt health systems and services of great importance. Unfortunately, cases of hospitalization and deaths have already been reported," Scano said.

He points out that the omicron strain can bypass previously acquired immunity in humans, and that it can infect those who have recovered from COVID-19, along with the unvaccinated, as well as those who have been immunized a long time ago. According to him, people who have recovered from COVID-19 have a three to five times higher chance of becoming infected with the omicron strain than is the case with the delta strain.

"The positive thing is that after the vaccination, the protection against more serious forms of disease, hospitalization and mortality is still great, especially after the booster dose. However, we still don't know how long that protection lasts", Scano said.

He says that the virus, as before, is mostly transmitted among adults in their 20s and 30s, spreading in big cities, especially during mass gatherings.

Scano calls for vaccination and emphasizes that it has been proven that it has so far saved 470.000 people over the age of 60 in 33 European countries in the period from December 2020 to November 2021.

In addition, Scano recommends that epidemiological measures be followed to prevent further spread of the infection, as well as that states prepare their health systems for the growing number of patients.