Omicron scare: Fauci says early signals about severity of new COVID variant 'encouraging'

Early indications of the severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant are a “bit encouraging” but more information is still needed, White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said. The “highly mutated” strain of SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in South Africa last week and has been labelled as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO). On Sunday, Fauci told reporters that, thus far, it does not look like Omicron has a “great degree of severity to it”. 

The Italian-American immunologist buttressed his stance by stressing that reports from South Africa suggest hospitalisation rates have not increased alarmingly. However, he added that it was “too early” to make any definitive statements about the variant and its degree of severity. It is worth mentioning here that although the strain has not led to a dramatic surge in hospitalisations, it is highly transmissible. Recently, scientists raised concerns about the same highlighting that COVID strain is spreading twice as quickly as the Delta variant. 

“Though it’s too early to really make any definitive statements about it, thus far it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “Thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging. But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe, or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta.”

Omicron found in one-third of US states

The Omicron variant has been found in almost one-third of US states, the latest reports revealed. Meanwhile, the overall caseload of coronavirus crossed 49,969,856 on December 6. Meanwhile, a total of 808,763 people lost their lives due to respiratory infections in America. California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois continue to remain the most affected states while President Joe Biden's native state Delaware is amongst the least infected states. Last month, health authorities gave a nod to the administration of booster shots to all adults in the country. 

Late last week, Biden announced that his administration will be launching hundreds of family vaccination centres to bolster immunisation in the country. The vaccination centres will provide regular jabs as well as a third, booster dose to all. Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave a green light to the administration of booster shots to all American adults. 

(Image: AP)