The World Health Organization says it is too early to know if the omicron variant is driving an increase in severe Covid-19 cases.
Some patients with omicron show mild symptoms, but there are also cases in which the disease becomes more severe, according to Maria Van Kerkhove. There is a general increase in Covid cases and not necessarily because omicron is more lethal.
There are studies that are looking at the severity of a person's hospitalization, whether or not they have this variant or not. Some of the cases that are detected in other countries are being photographed.
The WHO reported on Wednesday that 23 countries have identified omicron case so far, up from 18 two days ago, and that number is expected to rise in coming days and weeks. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said it was a matter of time before omicron was available in America.
The WHO expects to have more information on the variant's transmissibility within days.
She said that it is possible that the virus may still have a fitness advantage, meaning that it can become more transmissible than Delta. We don't know the severity yet. There is a "surveillance bias" in reported Covid cases that may cloud the early data.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC on Wednesday that there was a mini-delta surge in South Africa as well as uptick in a separate variant, C.1.2, which complicates efforts to gain clarity on
Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told CNBC on Monday that South Africa has a younger and healthier population than Europe and the United States, which may mean that omicron symptoms are not a good predictor of virulence in other parts of the world. Older people are more likely to develop severe Covid than younger people.
The public health measures used to fight delta should be strengthened to fight omicron, according to Van Kerkhove.
That doesn't mean that you can't leave. Van Kerkhove said that using proven public health and social measures is what that means. The WHO recommended last week that people wear masks and distance themselves from each other.
The Director General of the WHO warned against blanket travel bans on Wednesday, saying they do not prevent the spread of omicron and place a heavy economic burden on the nations that are targeted. The U.S., the European Union and the U.K. restricted travel from southern African nations after South Africa warned the world about omicron. Four foreign nationals entered the country on a diplomatic mission in November, and the variant was first detected by the country.
Tedros thanked South Africa and Botswana for detecting and reporting the variant quickly. It is concerning to me that those countries are being punished for doing the right thing.
Van Kerkhove said that if travel restrictions are placed on countries that report new variant, they will be hesitant to share critical information in the future.
She said that they rely on this information and that they are worried if there is a disincentive to record it.
The WHO will hold a meeting on December 6 to discuss how well vaccine immunity is holding up against Covid. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO's chief scientist, said that the primary goal of the world should be to ensure that as many people as possible have received their first vaccine series.
There are many countries that have vulnerable populations that have not been vaccined. There are a lot of low income countries where it hasn't happened because we haven't had the supplies.
The United States is one of the wealthy nations that has started giving booster doses to the general public. Many people in poorer nations don't have access to vaccines.
