The Omicron version has been found in 38 countries, although no deaths have been reported, according to the WHO, as authorities around the world tried to halt the spread of the significantly mutated Covid-19 strain despite worries that it might jeopardize the global economic recovery.
As Omicron infections pushed South Africa’s total cases beyond three million, the United States and Australia became the latest countries to confirm locally transmitted instances of the variety.
According to the World Health Organization, determining how contagious the variety is, if it causes more severe sickness, and how effective treatments and immunizations are against it could take weeks.
“We’re going to get the answers that everybody out there needs,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said.
The WHO said on Friday that it has not yet received any reports of Omicron-related deaths, but the new variant’s rapid spread has prompted fears that it could account for more than half of Europe’s Covid cases in the coming months.
International Monetary Fund director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the new variety, like the Delta strain, might impede global economic recovery.
