The omicron coronavirus strain has already been found in 89 countries. Such data as of December 16 are provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). The new variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, the organization said.
According to the WHO, the number of new cases of omicron-strain disease doubles within one and a half to three days. It is not yet clear whether the increase in infections is associated with the ability of the new variant of the coronavirus to “evade” immunity to infection, increased transmissibility, or a combination of both.
“Information on the clinical severity of omicron disease is still limited … There is currently no evidence of the effectiveness of omicron vaccines,” a WHO press release (quoted by Reuters) said.
Rising morbidity may lead to overcrowding in some countries, and hospital admissions have already risen in the UK and South Africa. Many health systems can quickly overload, WHO said.
By December 14, omicron had been identified in 77 countries, said WHO Director Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus. The strain may already be in most states, even if it hasn’t been found yet, he noted.
The fact that the number of people infected with a new strain of coronavirus is doubling every two to three days, WHO special envoy David Nabarro said earlier on Sky News. According to him, it will be possible to avoid high mortality in such conditions only with great luck.
Scientists at the University of Hong Kong School of Medicine also said the omicron is spreading 70 times faster than another strain of COVID-19, the delta. At the same time, the omicron spreads in the human lungs 10 times slower than the variant of the coronavirus that started the pandemic, the researchers found. In their opinion, this may indicate an easier course of COVID-19 when infected with a new strain.
In a document published by WHO, preliminary results of studies on the effects of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines against the new omicron strain are reported. The drugs showed reduced efficacy compared to their effect on the delta variant.
The omicron strain was discovered in southern Africa in the first decade of November. According to the World Health Organization, this variant of the virus has 32 mutations – more than all previously known. These changes increase the infectivity of omicron, enhance its binding to receptors, potentially increase the level of penetration into human cells and affect the increase in infectivity, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said earlier. In Russia, it was first recorded on December 6 in people who arrived from South Africa.
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