The World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general is urging people to be cautious over Christmas and has suggested that plans should be reconsidered, stating that "an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled."
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that people may wish to scale back their Christmas plans in order to protect themselves and others amid the rapid spread of new coronavirus variant omicron.
He said: “All of us are sick of this pandemic, all of us want to spend time with friends and family, all of us want to get back to normal.
“The fastest way to do this is for all of us, leaders and individuals, to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others.
“In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events, just as we have had to cancel the reception we planned to have with you (journalists) today.
“But an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled. It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later.”
He added that the pandemic could be ended in 2022 if 70% of the population of every country of the world has been vaccinated by the middle of next year.
