The risk to public health posed by the spread of the Omicron VOC in the context of ongoing Delta VOC transmission in the EU/EEA is assessed in this update.
ECDC encourages the use of this protocol as a basis for studies aiming at assessing vaccine effectiveness in semi-closed settings following the identification of a COVID-19 outbreak, as its use in the EU/EEA can facilitate results comparability from different outbreak investigations.
The number of countries reporting SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern (VOC) cases continues to increase globally, with a total of 352 confirmed cases reported by 27 countries as of 16.00 on 1 December 2021, including 70 confirmed cases reported by 13 European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries.
This technical report provides a set of interim public health considerations to support EU/EEA public health authorities taking decisions on the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 5 11 years.
A SARS-CoV-2 variant belonging to Pango lineage B.1.1.529, with a high number of S-gene mutations compared to the original virus was detected at the beginning of November 2021. On 26 November 2021 the variant was designated a variant of concern (VOC) and assigned the label Omicron by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This Rapid Risk Assessment assesses the risk posed by the circulation of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 between 1 December 2021 to 31 January 2022, based on modelling scenarios and projected levels of vaccination coverage.