World Health Organization Says Omicron Poses 'Very High' Risk But Data On Severity Limited (Update)

Reuter: Omicron Poses 'Very High' Risk but Data on Severity Limited

GENEVA (Reuters) - The Omicron coronavirus variant, reported in more than 60 countries, poses a "very high" global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection but clinical data on its severity is limited, the World Health Organization says.

Considerable uncertainties surround Omicron, first detected last month in southern Africa and Hong Kong, whose mutations may lead to higher transmissibility and more cases of COVID-19 disease, the WHO said in a technical brief issued on Sunday.

"The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high for a number of reasons," it said, reiterating its first assessment of Nov. 29.

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Update #1: Omicron spreads faster and weakens jabs: WHO (France 24)

Update #2: WHO says Omicron likely to ‘outpace’ Delta variant as the U.K warns of potential ‘tidal wave’ of Omicron infections (Forbes)

WNU Editor: We will probably only know in the coming weeks on how severe this variant really is.