A worker pastes a sticker on a wall of a COVID-19 facility at Commonwealth Games Village in view of the rising Omicron cases in New Delhi, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021.
Highlights
- WHO has warned that it is 'dangerous' to assume Omicron as the last Covid variant.
- It has also said that people must not assume Covid 19 to be in its endgame.
- On Sunday, the global health body had said that Omicron will soon surpass Delta.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday warned the public against the Omicron variant of Covid 19, and also raised an alarm saying "it would be dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we're in the endgame". The global health body's statement comes at a time when Omicron has entered 171 countries and is perpetually surfacing in daily Covid cases.
On Sunday, WHO had said that Omicron is soon set to replace Delta globally as a result of its immunity evading potential. It stated that Omicron has been found to have a significant growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates, and a higher observed reproduction number compared to Delta.
The WHO also found "evidence that the Omicron variant infects human bronchus tissue faster and more efficiently than Delta". However, it has shown a predominance of viral replication in the upper respiratory tract, unlike Delta.
Meanwhile, the INSACOG in its latest bulletin said that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in the community transmission stage in India and has become dominant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially.
It also said BA.2 lineage, an infectious sub-variant of Omicron, has been found in a substantial fraction in the country.
