Times Of Israel
The omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in 89 countries, and COVID-19 cases involving the variant are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission and not just infections acquired abroad, the World Health Organization said Saturday.
The variant, first discovered in late November, has been spreading rapidly even in countries with high vaccination rates or where a significant proportion of the population has recovered from the disease, but it is not yet clear if Omicron’s rate of transmission was because it was less prone to immune responses, higher transmissibility, or a combination of both, the WHO said.
“There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron. More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity,” the organization said.
“There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron,” it added.
But Omicron’s “substantial growth advantage” over the Delta variant means it is likely to soon overtake Delta as the dominant form of the virus in countries where the new variant is spreading locally, the UN health agency said.
South Africa reported Omicron to the WHO on November 24, prompting countries around the world to impose travel bans and reintroduce domestic restrictions to slow its spread.
The WHO said earlier this week that Omicron was more transmissible than the Delta strain and reduces vaccine efficacy but causes less severe symptoms, according to early data.
Faster transmission was noted in South Africa, where Delta is less prevalent, and in Britain, where Delta is the dominant strain…
