WHO provided an update on the current situation on four key issues on Omicron: transmissibility, clinical severity, risk of re-infection and potential impact of the vaccine.
In the latest weekly epidemiological update on Covid19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that given the prevalence of the Delta variant in many countries, it is too early to draw conclusions on the impact of the new Omicron variant on global epidemiology. Covid19.
The World Health Agency also pointed out that while several crucial questions about Omicron remain unanswered, more data will continue to emerge in the weeks to come.
At the same time, which also presented an update of the current situation on four key homicon problems – the transmissibility, clinical gravity, the risk of reinfection and the potential impact of vaccines.
WHO has said that in South Africa, where the new variant of concern (VOC) was first reported, new cases of Covid19 continued to rise. Between November 29 and December 5, 62,021 new cases were reported, an increase of 111% from the previous week. More importantly, the country reported an increase in the positive test rate from 1.2% for the week starting November 7 to 22.4% for the week starting December 2.
WHO has also noted that a huge increase in the weekly number of cases has also been observed in some countries bordering South Africa, notably Eswatini (1,990%), Zimbabwe (1,361%), Mozambique ( 1,207%), Namibia (681%) and Lesotho. (219%). “These other countries have very low immunization coverage ranging from 12.1% of the total fully immunized population in Namibia to 26.7% in Lesotho. In South Africa, 25.2% of the total population is fully vaccinated,” WHO said.“While drivers of these increases remain unknown,
It is plausible that the spread of Omicron in combination with enhanced testing following the declaration of a VOC, play a role, together with the relaxation of public health and social measures (PHSMs) and suboptimal immunisation coverage,” WHO highlighted.On the global data, WHO said as on December 7,
The Omicron variant has been confirmed in 57 countries.“However, given the predominant circulation of the Delta variant in many countries, particularly in countries in the European Region and in the United States of America, it is too early to draw any conclusions about the impact Omicron will have on the global epidemiology of Covid19,” it said.
