Sharjah24 – Reuters: The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday (December 20).
"There is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing for Geneva-based journalists, held at its new headquarters building.
"And it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected," Tedros said.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the variant was successfully evading some immune responses, meaning that the booster programs being rolled out in many countries ought to be targeted towards people with weaker immune systems.
Omicron appears to be better at evading antibodies generated by some COVID-19 vaccines but there are other forms of immunity that may prevent infection and disease, WHO officials said.
"It would be very dangerous to jump to the conclusion that the vaccines are not working," Swaminathan said
However, Swaminathan warned it was too early to conclude the Omicron variant was milder than other coronavirus strains, saying it could still make enough people sick to "overburden" healthcare systems.
"I think with the numbers going up all health systems are going to be under strain," she said.
She added that this perception appeared to be based on initial data out of parts of South Africa which might give a misleading impression due to high levels of existing immunity among the population.
Tedros also urged China, where the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first detected at the end of 2019, to be forthcoming with data and information related to its origin to help the response going forward.
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