Washington, Dec 8, 2008 : .The Omicron Covid-19 variant was discovered in southern Africa two weeks ago and is now found in 50 countries, Rochelle Walensky, Director of the US CDC, has stated. Walensky stated that the super mutant strain of Covid was also present in 19 states in the US during a White House Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday.
She stated that the US currently sees “about 100,000 new Covid-19 cases per day”.
Walensky stated that “while much of the news is focusing on the Omicron variant.I want to reiterate the fact that over 99 percent of sequenced cases in America continue to be from Delta variant.”
Walensky stated that while we are still trying to understand Omicron’s severity and how it responds therapeutically to vaccines, we expect that all of these measures will at least, in some part, protect Omicron.”
Dr.Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, said scientists will have data by the middle next week that shows how effective current vaccines are against the new variant.
Fauci stated that Omicron’s transmissibility can be explained by molecular evidence.”We have molecular proof to suggest that Omicron and other variants are associated with increased infection.”
He also cited “real-world evidence”, which “determines an increase in cases, possible growth in reproductive number, as well as the rapid replacement Delta by Omicron when necessary.”
He stated that “real-world evidence” from epidemiology and clinical research will definitively determine how severe and transmissible the virus is, as well as whether or no vaccines can be evaded.
The US infectious disease expert pointed out a chart showing a seven-day rolling average Omicron case count per 1,000,000 South Africans.
He also noted that this is the predominant variant currently circulating in South Africa.He stated that the almost vertical inflection of these clearly points towards a high degree transmissibility.
Fauci said that it was too early to know the severity of the disease.Omicron may cause milder illness than previously thought, according to data from South Africa.
However, Fauci cautioned that this could be due to the fact that many of the cohort are young.
Fauci stated that “we’ll be in a position to determine whether or not antibodies inducible by all vaccines lose the ability of effectiveness with Omicron,” referring to studies looking at both live virus as well as pseudo virus.
He said, “In addition to that, we are doing animal research to evaluate immune protection and efficacy of Antivirals.”
He also stated that Omicron is more likely to be re-infected in people who have recovered from the Beta and Delta variants.A South African study found that Omicron has a three-fold higher chance of re-infection than other variants.Fauci stated that this indicates that Omicron is not the only variant that causes immunity to be evaded.
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