Europe is now entering the probable endgame of the pandemic, with coronavirus deaths starting to plateau, said director of the European office of the World Health Organization Hans Kluge, AP reported.

Countries in Europe have an extraordinary opportunity to bring COVID-19 under control, he said, thanks to three factors: high immunization rates through vaccination and natural infection, the propensity for the virus to spread less in warmer weather, and the lower severity of the omicron variant.

This period of heightened protection should be seen as a ceasefire that can bring us lasting peace, he said, adding that the coming spring leaves us the opportunity for a long period of calm and a much higher level of protection for the population from any resumption of infection.

Even if another option comes up, Kluge said, health authorities in Europe should be able to keep it under control, as long as immunization measures continue along with other public health measures.

He noted that this requires a dramatic and uncompromising expansion of vaccine exchanges across borders, saying that vaccines must be made available to everyone in Europe and beyond. Scientists have repeatedly warned that if the majority of the world's population is not vaccinated, any further spread of COVID-19 means it could mutate into more deadly and contagious forms.