World Health Cites Omicron Variant Overall Risk
WORLD HEALTH – Amid the alarm caused by the newly-detected Omicron variant of COVID-19, WHO released details about its risk.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and the virus has unfortunately mutated. Several new variants of the virus were detected in some countries abroad. The latest variant is the Omicron which was first recorded in South Africa.
The Omicron variant caused alarm to countries across the globe after it was reported to be a “heavily mutated” variant of the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) was quick to warn nations to boost their guards to prevent its spread.
However, the Omicron variant spread fast across the globe. Despite the travel restrictions set by several countries, many nations now have logged cases of the variant of concern. The Philippines is one of those that set travel bans on travelers from countries with confirmed cases of the Omicron variant but the country now has four (4) cases from foreign travelers.
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke on the risk of the Omicron variant which was first recorded in South Africa. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, WHO said that the risk of the variant of concern is still “very high”.
The UN Health Agency said that pieces of evidence showed that the Omicron variant has a “growth advantage” over another variant of concern, the Delta variant. A speedy increase in the cases in several countries were noted. According to WHO, the growth “is likely to be a combination of both immune evasion and intrinsic increased transmissibility” of the variant of concern.
With regards to the hospitalization of the Omicron variant, based on the data from Denmark, Britain, and South Africa, there is a lower risk of hospitalization compared with the Delta variant. However, further data are needed to determine the severity of the current variant of concern.
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