Geneva: omicron Rapidly outpacing the delta version of COVID-19 and dominating the world, a senior WHO Officials have warned, the Global Health Agency has warned that there is “growing evidence” that Omicron is able to evade immunity but has a lower disease severity than other types.
It may take some time for Omicron to overtake Delta in some countries, depending on the level of circulation of the Delta variant in those countries, said Maria, infectious disease epidemiologist and COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO). Van Kerkhove said on Tuesday.
“Omicron has been found in all the countries where we have good sequencing and it is likely to be in all countries around the world. It is rapidly, in terms of its circulation, overtaking the delta. And so the Omicron major variant Which is being explored,” Kerkhov said during a virtual question-and-answer session.
She further cautioned that even though there is some information that Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, “it is not a mild disease” because “people are still hospitalized for Omicron.”
COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update released by WHO states that more than 15 million new COVID-19 cases Globally, cases were reported in the week of January 3-9, a 55 per cent increase over the previous week when around 9.5 million cases were reported.
There were more than 43,000 new deaths in the past week. As of 9 January, there have been over 304 million confirmed COVD-19 cases and over 5.4 million deaths.
The highest number of new cases were reported from the US (4,610,359 new cases; an increase of 73 per cent), France (1,597,203 new cases; an increase of 46 per cent), the UK (1,217,258 new cases; an increase of 10 per cent), Italy (1,014,358 new cases; 57 per cent increase). percent increase) and India (638,872 new cases; an increase of 524 percent), the update said.
Kerkhov said the 15 million cases reported in the past seven days are “a record high in this pandemic” and “underestimated” given the challenges in surveillance around the world and at-home COVID-19 self-tests that are not registered. Huh.
The WHO update states that the Omicron variant has substantial growth gains and is rapidly replacing other variants.
“This variant has been shown to have a shorter doubling time than previous variants, even among people who have been vaccinated or with a history of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is increasing evidence that this variant is able to evade immunity,” the update said.
It said that in terms of disease severity, there is increasing evidence that the Omicron variant is less severe than the other variants.
Citing a non-peer-reviewed retrospective cohort study from the US, the update said the findings suggest that the absolute number of cases and hospitalizations currently among children is increasing in the US, compared with other age groups. The risk of hospitalization is still low in comparison. The period during which Omicron was circulating compared to the period when the delta version was in effect.
The update also mentioned that since December, six studies have provided evidence of low Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) of COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant.
“While the initial VE estimates against the Omicron variant should be interpreted with caution because of potential biases, these preliminary results provide evidence of a decrease in the overall effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron variant, relative to the delta while increasing since vaccination.” With a greater decline in effectiveness with… While a booster vaccination appears to improve VE against infection and hospitalization due to the Omron variant, more data are needed to assess both the magnitude and duration of protection. The update said.
The WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on the COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC) said that as the coronavirus evolves, the composition of current COVID-19 vaccines may need to be updated, to ensure That “Covid-19 vaccines continue to provide WHO-recommended levels of protection against infection and disease by VOCs, including micron and future variants.”
Kerkhov said that as Omicron enters vulnerable populations and spreads, “we will see an increase in hospitalizations and deaths. So please take this virus seriously because it needs to be treated. The statement that it is the common cold” It is not true. The narrative that it is just benign is not true. So we really have to fight against it. This is not the time to give up.”
It may take some time for Omicron to overtake Delta in some countries, depending on the level of circulation of the Delta variant in those countries, said Maria, infectious disease epidemiologist and COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO). Van Kerkhove said on Tuesday.
“Omicron has been found in all the countries where we have good sequencing and it is likely to be in all countries around the world. It is rapidly, in terms of its circulation, overtaking the delta. And so the Omicron major variant Which is being explored,” Kerkhov said during a virtual question-and-answer session.
She further cautioned that even though there is some information that Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, “it is not a mild disease” because “people are still hospitalized for Omicron.”
COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update released by WHO states that more than 15 million new COVID-19 cases Globally, cases were reported in the week of January 3-9, a 55 per cent increase over the previous week when around 9.5 million cases were reported.
There were more than 43,000 new deaths in the past week. As of 9 January, there have been over 304 million confirmed COVD-19 cases and over 5.4 million deaths.
The highest number of new cases were reported from the US (4,610,359 new cases; an increase of 73 per cent), France (1,597,203 new cases; an increase of 46 per cent), the UK (1,217,258 new cases; an increase of 10 per cent), Italy (1,014,358 new cases; 57 per cent increase). percent increase) and India (638,872 new cases; an increase of 524 percent), the update said.
Kerkhov said the 15 million cases reported in the past seven days are “a record high in this pandemic” and “underestimated” given the challenges in surveillance around the world and at-home COVID-19 self-tests that are not registered. Huh.
The WHO update states that the Omicron variant has substantial growth gains and is rapidly replacing other variants.
“This variant has been shown to have a shorter doubling time than previous variants, even among people who have been vaccinated or with a history of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is increasing evidence that this variant is able to evade immunity,” the update said.
It said that in terms of disease severity, there is increasing evidence that the Omicron variant is less severe than the other variants.
Citing a non-peer-reviewed retrospective cohort study from the US, the update said the findings suggest that the absolute number of cases and hospitalizations currently among children is increasing in the US, compared with other age groups. The risk of hospitalization is still low in comparison. The period during which Omicron was circulating compared to the period when the delta version was in effect.
The update also mentioned that since December, six studies have provided evidence of low Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) of COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant.
“While the initial VE estimates against the Omicron variant should be interpreted with caution because of potential biases, these preliminary results provide evidence of a decrease in the overall effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron variant, relative to the delta while increasing since vaccination.” With a greater decline in effectiveness with… While a booster vaccination appears to improve VE against infection and hospitalization due to the Omron variant, more data are needed to assess both the magnitude and duration of protection. The update said.
The WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on the COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC) said that as the coronavirus evolves, the composition of current COVID-19 vaccines may need to be updated, to ensure That “Covid-19 vaccines continue to provide WHO-recommended levels of protection against infection and disease by VOCs, including micron and future variants.”
Kerkhov said that as Omicron enters vulnerable populations and spreads, “we will see an increase in hospitalizations and deaths. So please take this virus seriously because it needs to be treated. The statement that it is the common cold” It is not true. The narrative that it is just benign is not true. So we really have to fight against it. This is not the time to give up.”
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