'Overall Risk Related to Omicron Variant Remains Very High': WHO

"The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high," the WHO said.

Photo: IANS Infographics

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday, 29 December, said the risk posed by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is still "very high".

Their statement comes after the COVID-19 case numbers saw a sharp increase of 11 percent globally last week.

"The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high," the WHO said.

"Consistent evidence shows that the Omicron variant has a growth advantage over the Delta variant with a doubling time of two to three days and rapid increases in the incidence of cases is seen in a number of countries," the UN health agency added.

Omicron has become the dominant variant in Britain and the United States, among other countries, and the highest number of new cases have been reported from the US, Britain, France and Italy.

"The rapid growth rate is likely to be a combination of both immune evasion and intrinsic increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant."

However, the WHO also informed that there was a 29 percent decrease in the incidence of cases observed in South Africa. The country had reported the first case of the new variant on 24 November.

The WHO said that data from Britain, South Africa, and Denmark had shown a reduced risk of hospitalisation for the new variant compared to the Delta variant.

However, the body said that more data was needed to fully understand Omicron's severity in terms of use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation, death, how severe a case would be if a person had been previously infected, and vaccination status.

(With inputs from AFP)