India Reports 9,419 Cases in 24 hours; Omicron Now in 57 Countries, Could Have Major Impact on Pandemic, Says WHO
As the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spreads, WHO officials say that boosters aren't useful in countries with large vaccine supplies but where up to 50% of people have not gotten vaccinated.
The World Health Organization says early evidence suggests the omicron variant may be spreading faster than the highly transmissible delta variant but brings with it less severe coronavirus disease though it’s too early to make firm conclusions. The comments come among swirling concerns about the new variant that first emerged in southern Africa last month, prompting some countries to shut their borders and rattling stock markets fearful of the long-term impact of a possible new variant of the virus that has already infected at least 267 million people and killed more than 5.2 million.
Meanwhile, WHO officials stuck to their stance that giving booster shots to people who are already vaccinated should be a secondary priority to getting first doses into the arms of people in places that have relatively little vaccination coverage.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Associate Press that the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the U.S. But the disease is mild in almost all of the cases seen so far, she said, with reported symptoms mainly cough, congestion and fatigue. One person was hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported, CDC officials said.
Maharashtra’s first patient of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, who resides in Thane district, was on Wednesday discharged from a hospital after testing negative for the infection, a civic official said. The patient, a 33-year-old marine engineer from Kalyan Dombivli municipal area, had arrived at the Delhi airport from South Africa via Dubai in the last week of November. The state now has 10 cases of Omicron variant.
Britain recorded 131 new cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant on Wednesday, taking the total to 568, as it emerged that government ministers are in discussion about plans for tougher rules in an effort to slow the spread of the highly transmissible variant first detected in South Africa.
According to reports emerging from ministerial quarters, Prime Minister Boris Johnson may decide to move the country to the so-called Plan B winter strategy of dealing with COVID-19 which would see people being directed to work from home, compulsory face masks in all settings and vaccine passports for entry to most venues. The government has so far stopped short of enforcing Plan B and issued guidelines for compulsory face masks on transport and some indoor settings, such as shops.
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