![]() ![]() The Omicron variant indeed is comparable to the Delta variant, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “It’s inevitable that sooner or later it’s going to spread widely because it has at least the molecular characteristics of being highly transmissible, even though there are a lot of things about it that we do not know but that will be able to be ascertained in the next week or two, I believe,” Fauci said. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Imagesįederal officials bracing for first detection of Omicron coronavirus variant in the US US President Joe Biden delivers remarks to provide an update on the Omicron variant in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on November 29, 2021. Now, that could be an artifact of the fact that initial cases seem to be clustered in younger people, perhaps in outbreaks around universities,” Gottlieb said. And in fact, there’s some anecdotal information offered from physicians in South Africa that this could be causing milder illness. “Is this making people more ill? There’s no indication that it is. Health officials do not know yet whether the variant will cause more severe outcomes, former FDA Commissioner Dr. ![]() “They have a number of patients that they’re following in the medical facilities, and they assured us that they would know probably in a matter of a week, a week and a half, as to whether or not we’re dealing with something that, for the most part is more severe, equally as severe or less severe. ![]() Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday.įauci said US health officials are getting their information from their counterparts in South Africa, with whom they’ve been in near constant contact. US health officials should know in a week or two how severe that cases caused by the new variant will be, Dr. People must be careful not to presume what the likely clinical picture will be based on what is being seen right now, he told John Berman on CNN’s “New Day.” There needs to be a much broader picture, as it’s too early to see severe cases, which normally come a few weeks later, he said. The new Omicron variant is a reminder that 'the virus is still in control' regardless of Covid-19 fatigue, medical professor says Travelers wait in line at a security checkpoint at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 24 November 2021. “The reality is we’ve only known about this virus for just over a week, so we don’t really have the kind of data required to answer those questions definitively,” Karim said Monday when asked whether Omicron is more transmissible, more virulent and evades vaccines. It will be a couple of weeks until more answers are clear, said Salim Abdool Karim, former co-chair of the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19. It may take weeks to know if it causes more severe disease “While this is concerning, as the WHO has indicated, I do think that we have to step back and wait for the science on this,” epidemiologist Dr. While scientists say there is reason to be concerned over Omicron, they stress there is still a lot we don’t know – including whether the variant is indeed more contagious, whether it causes more severe disease or what its effects on vaccine efficacy may be. The strain, named Omicron, was designated Friday as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, which said studies of it are underway as advisers continue to monitor it. A new and potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant first identified by South African scientists has prompted a fresh round of travel restrictions across the world and raised concern about what may be next in the pandemic. ![]()
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