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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

Global risk from Omicron coronavirus variant very high, WHO says

  • Assessments so far based on limited data but likelihood of potential further spread high, health body says
  • Researchers in South Africa and other countries are carrying out studies to assess variant’s characteristics, it says

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The WHO cautions that the latest assessment is based on limited data. Photo: AFP
Simone McCarthy
The new coronavirus variant Omicron has an “unprecedented number” of mutations in the spike protein, some of which could affect the path of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
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In a technical brief on the newest “variant of concern”, the UN health body cautioned that assessments so far were based on limited information, but said the overall global risk related to the highly mutated variant was “very high”.

“Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage, the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high,” the WHO wrote in the brief released on Monday afternoon.

“Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of Covid-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors including where surges may take place.

“The overall global risk related to the new [variant of concern] Omicron is assessed as very high.”

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A number of key questions about the variant, which was first detected in southern Africa earlier this month, remain unanswered. These include whether it can spread more easily between people, whether it can dodge vaccine or infection-induced immune protections, and whether it causes more severe disease than previous strains.

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