Desk Report
Publish: 29 Nov 2021, 07:31 pm
World Health Organization || Photo: Collected
The
new Covid-19 Omicron variant poses a "very high" risk globally, the
World Health Organization warned Monday, stressing that uncertainties remained
about how contagious and dangerous the strain was.
"If
another major surge of Covid-19 takes place driven by Omicron, consequences may
be severe," WHO said in a technical note, adding though that "to
date, no deaths linked to Omicron variant have been reported."
The
World Health Organization on Friday declared the recently-discovered B.1.1.529
strain of Covid-19, first detected in southern Africa, to be a variant of concern
and renamed it Omicron.
The
classification puts Omicron into the most-troubling category of Covid-19
variants, along with the globally-dominant Delta, plus its weaker rivals Alpha,
Beta and Gamma.
Nations
rushed to ban flights to slow the spread of Omicron on Friday, while stock
markets and oil prices plunged on fears surrounding the variant, potentially
dealing a heavy blow to the global economic recovery.
"Based
on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19
epidemiology... the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern (VOC),
named Omicron," the UN health agency said in a statement.
The
WHO said it could take several weeks to complete studies of Omicron to see if
there are any changes in transmissibility, severity or implications for Covid
vaccines, tests and treatments.
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