(Geneva) The World Health Organization currently has no information on a possible death linked to the new Omicron variant of the virus giving COVID-19, a spokesperson for the organization told Friday. Geneva.
“I have not seen any information reporting deaths linked to Omicron,” said Christian Lindmeier, during a regular UN press briefing in Geneva.
As more countries test to try to detect the new variant, “we’ll have more cases, more information, and – although I hope not – possibly deaths,” he said.
The new variant, classified as worrying by the WHO, was first detected in southern Africa, but since the South African health authorities alerted the WHO on November 24, infections with Omicron have been noted in around 30 countries on all continents.
If outside southern Africa, the first infections were generally linked to people who had traveled to the region, the first cases of local transmission are now appearing, in the United States or Australia for example.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers “high” the “probability that Omicron spreads globally”, even if many unknowns remain: contagiousness, effectiveness of existing vaccines, severity of symptoms.
But the spokesperson insisted on recalling that most cases of COVID-19 are caused by the Delta variant, to give a little perspective.
“The restrictions put in place in many countries just two weeks ago” is because “of an increase in the number of cases linked to Delta. We must not forget it, ”he insisted.
Cases are exploding all over Europe, where Germany, after Austria, is considering making vaccination compulsory.
WHO estimates that vaccines are still effective in protecting against the most severe cases, but it will take several weeks to get a much more accurate picture of the potential impact of Omicron.
“Preliminary data seems to point to more contagiousness, but basically that’s all we know at the moment,” said Lindmeier.