Omicron: WHO warns, says new variant still possesses ‘very high risk’

World health organization – WHO warns the world of Omicron, citing, the new COVID variant still possesses ‘very high risk’ and could overwhelm healthcare systems.

The international health organization made the remarks in its Covid-19 weekly epidemiological update. The data reveals worldwide Omicron infections soared high by 11% the previous week.

The new variant emerged first in South Africa and currently is present in more than 80 countries. UN health agency further added e, cited, “The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high”.

Omicron is the dominant variant in several countries, including Netherlands and Switzerland. Britain, South Africa, and Denmark are the nations that have the highest rate of infection per person.

“Consistent evidence reveals that the Omicron variant has a growth advantage over the Delta variant with a doubling time of two to three days,” WHO cited.

Meanwhile, some studies show that the Omicron variant causes milder COVID 19. WHO officials noted that still there are data required to understand and measure the severity of the new COVID variant.

WHO Europe’s Covid Incident Manager Catherine Smallwood asserted, “Omicron’s rapid growth will still result in large numbers of hospitalizations, particularly amongst unvaccinated groups, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services”.

Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, stated, “COVID19 is here to stay, and we must learn to live with it. I urge people to stay indoors, or keeping schools and colleges locked is no longer the ideal approach. It causes more damage than the pandemic itself”.

In order to curb the virus spread, nations are imposing a travel ban and stringent travel protocols on the hotspots of Omicron. At the same time, many countries are only permitting fully inoculated citizens to get out in public places.

WHO earlier titled Omicron the “variant of concern”, issuing a warning for the countries.