The risk posed by the omicron covid-19 strain is still “very high,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
The warning came after the number of new Covid-19 cases in the world rose by 11% last week from a week earlier, but the number of new deaths fell by 4%. “This equates to less than five million new infections and more than 44,000 new deaths,” the WHO said.
The omicron strain is associated with rapid increases in the number of Covid-19 cases in a number of countries, including those that have already become dominant after the previously dominant delta strain, the WHO said in a weekly epidemiological report.
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“The overall risk associated with the new form of omicron is still very high,” the WHO warned.
‘Consistent evidence shows that the omicron type is superior to the delta type in terms of growth, [infekcijas gadījumu skaitam] doubling in two or three days and the number of cases rising sharply, as seen in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, where it has become the dominant form of Covid-19.
The WHO believes that this increase is due to the avoidance of the immune system in combination with its greater portability.
Also read – WHO warns of ‘storm approaching’ with omicron spreading in Europe
However, the WHO emphasized that the incidence of Covid-19 had fallen by 29% in South Africa, which was the first to report a new variant of Covid-19 to the WHO on 24 November.-
In addition, early data from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Denmark, which currently ranks first in the world in terms of population infection with Covid-19, suggest that the risk of hospitalization for the omicron variant is lower than for the delta variant.
More data are needed to understand the severity of the omicron species in terms of clinical signs, including oxygen uptake, mechanical pulmonary ventilation, and death.
Data are also needed on how this severity may be affected by previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination.
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