WHO warns on lifting COVID curbs quickly as many countries have not reached Omicron peak
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The WHO's technical lead on COVID-19 says that restrictions implemented to curb the spread of the Omicron variant should be eased slowly as many countries have still yet to reach a peak in Omicron cases.
"We are urging caution because many countries have not gone through the peak of Omicron yet," Maria Van Kerkhove said during an online briefing today, Reuters reported. "Many countries have low levels of vaccination coverage with very vulnerable individuals within their populations." 
She added that "now is not the time to lift everything at once."
Last month, several European countries, including U.K., began to lift COVID curbs.
Vaccine names: Pfizer (PFE
-0.4%), BioNTech (BNTX
+3.7%), Moderna (MRNA
+3.4%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ
-1.5%), AstraZeneca (AZN
-0.7%), and Novavax (NVAX
+3.9%).
In the U.S., the 7-day moving average for daily COVID cases peaked last month on Jan. 15, based on CDC data.
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