Your trusted source

The World Health Organization has urged people to cancel some of their holiday plans to protect public health, as the Omicron variant spreads globally, BBC News reports.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled," said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that "difficult decisions" must be made.

A number of countries have acted to try to halt the spread of the variant, including imposing travel curbs.

In the US, Omicron is now dominant, accounting for 73% of new infections.

Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Dr Tedros said there was now evidence that the variant was "spreading significantly faster" than the previous dominant version, Delta.

The WHO has also said it would be "unwise" to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant.

Dr Tedros said that "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".

But he said that everyone, "leaders and individuals", had to make difficult decisions to protect people, including by cancelling or delaying events.

"It's better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later," Dr Tedros said.

He also said that the pandemic could be ended in 2022 - if 70% of the population of every country of the world was vaccinated by the middle of next year.