World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the new Ômicron variant of the coronavirus is very transmissible, but people shouldn’t panic about it.
In an interview at the Reuters Next conference, this Friday (3), Soumya said that the right answer is to be prepared and be cautious and not panic in front of the new variant.
“How worried should we be? We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we are in a different situation than a year ago,” said Swaminathan.
The emergence of the new variant was not welcome, she said, adding that the world is much better prepared due to the development of vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic.
Much remains unknown about Ômicron, first detected in southern Africa last month and with records in at least two dozen countries. Parts of Europe were already battling a wave of Delta variant infections.
“We have to wait, I hope the strain is milder, but it is too early to draw conclusions about the variant as a whole”, said the scientist.
WHO urged countries to increase the capacity of their health systems and vaccinate their populations to combat the rise in covid-19 cases caused by Ômicron, saying that travel restrictions can buy time but are not the answer for itself.
“Delta is responsible for 99% of infections around the world. This variant would have to be more transferable to compete and become dominant around the world. It is possible, but there is no way to predict it”, he added.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the new Ômicron variant of the coronavirus is very transmissible, but people shouldn’t panic about it.
In an interview at the Reuters Next conference, this Friday (3), Soumya said that the right answer is to be prepared and be cautious and not panic in front of the new variant.
“How worried should we be? We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we are in a different situation than a year ago,” said Swaminathan.
The emergence of the new variant was not welcome, she said, adding that the world is much better prepared due to the development of vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic.
Much remains unknown about Ômicron, first detected in southern Africa last month and with records in at least two dozen countries. Parts of Europe were already battling a wave of Delta variant infections.
“We have to wait, I hope the strain is milder, but it is too early to draw conclusions about the variant as a whole”, said the scientist.
WHO urged countries to increase the capacity of their health systems and vaccinate their populations to combat the rise in covid-19 cases caused by Ômicron, saying that travel restrictions can buy time but are not the answer for itself.
“Delta is responsible for 99% of infections around the world. This variant would have to be more transferable to compete and become dominant around the world. It is possible, but there is no way to predict it”, he added.
