England joined Denmark with plans to lift its remaining coronavirus restrictions, Joe Biden’s top medical adviser said the “full-blown” phase of the crisis was nearly over and Europe’s biggest holiday group revealed that bookings were returning to levels last seen before the pandemic.
The flurry of announcements from around Europe and North America this week crystallised hopes that the worst of the Omicron variant wave has passed, allowing health experts to speculate whether a return to normal life was within grasp.
“There are no real criteria for the end of a pandemic — but it probably feels something like this,” said David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.