The WHO yesterday said it had not seen any reports of deaths relating to the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The UN health agency said it was collecting evidence about the “variant of concern,” as countries around the world scramble to stop its spread.
However, despite a growing number of countries reporting infections with the new variant, no deaths have yet been reported to the agency.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I have not seen reports of Omicron-related deaths yet,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. “We’re collecting all the evidence, and we will find much more evidence as we go along. The more countries ... keep testing people, and looking specifically into the Omicron variant, we will also find more cases, more information, and, hopefully not, but also possibly deaths.”
The US and Australia earlier announced their first locally transmitted Omicron cases, as the new variant, first reported by South African scientists, has already cast the world’s recovery into doubt.
EU health authorities on Thursday warned that it could cause more than half of COVID-19 cases in Europe in the next few months.
More than two dozen governments have now detected Omicron cases — including India, one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since it began nearly two years ago.
A preliminary study by South African researchers suggests that the strain is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared with the Delta or Beta variants.
Michael Head, a scientist at the University of Southampton, said the research, which has not yet been peer reviewed, was “very concerning.”
Ten cases have so far been confirmed in the US, including five in New York announced on Thursday.
Two cases, reported in Hawaii and Minnesota, involved residents with no recent international travel history — signaling that the strain is already circulating inside the country.
“This is a case of community spread,” the Hawaii Health Department said.
The cases were reported as US President Joe Biden outlined his plans to battle COVID-19 during the winter, with new testing requirements for travelers and a surge in vaccination efforts.
“It’s a plan that I think should unite us,” he said.
All incoming travelers would need to test negative within a day before their flights, and rapid tests that cost about US$25 would be covered by insurance and distributed free to uninsured Americans.
Australia yesterday reported that a student with no history of foreign travel had tested positive for the Omicron variant.
The case, detected in Sydney, comes despite a sweeping ban on foreigners entering the country and restrictions on flights from southern Africa.
And just a day after Singapore reported two cases of the variant, Malaysia yesterday reported its first Omicron infections.
The case was detected in a foreign student traveling from South Africa, who had arrived in Malaysia on Nov. 19, Malaysian Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin said.
The case was only confirmed on Thursday, after officials conducted genome sequencing on samples taken from recent arrivals at Kuala Lumpur airport, he said.
The variant’s detection and spread represent a major challenge to efforts to end the pandemic, with several nations already reimposing restrictions many had hoped were a thing of the past.
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