Today, The World Health Organization (or WHO) warned that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading faster than any previous strain, and it is likely present in every country of the world.
The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, during a COVID-19 update in Geneva, “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of Omicron. And the reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet.”
The WHO is worried that countries are dismissing Omicron as a mild variant. Though the new variant is more contagious, it is not yet clear whether the variant causes more mild or severe disease than past strains of the virus. That said, the sheer number of cases has the potential to overwhelm unprepared health systems.
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