The World Health Organization has urged people to cancel some of their holiday plans to protect public health as the Omicron variant spreads globally, the BBC reports.
“An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that “difficult decisions” must be made.
“In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events” he said.
His comments came as health experts declared Omicron is now the dominant variant in the US.
Dr Tedros added that there was now evidence that the variant “is spreading significantly faster than… Delta”.
A number of countries – including France and Germany – have tightened Covid restrictions and imposed travel curbs to try to halt the spread of the new variant. The Netherlands has introduced a strict lockdown over the Christmas period.
