COVID-19: WHO says it may take up to three weeks to better understand the omicron variant

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it will take between one and three weeks to interpret and draw conclusions from the scientific data that is being collected on the omicron variant of the coronanirus and to determine more clearly its ability to be transmitted, the degree of disease it can cause and, above all, what impact it can have on the effectiveness of vaccines.

“The big question has to do with vaccines and it will take us longer to understand the impact on them. This variant has a significant number of mutations, some of which we know because they also appeared in other variants, so we have some clues that we could have a reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccines”, Affirmed the epidemiologist Maria Van Kherkove.

“We don’t have the information yet and it will take a week, two or three to know.“, he pointed from Kherkovec, one of the experts who leads the global fight against the pandemic from the WHO.

Ómicron has already been identified in 38 countries, according to the latest data from the WHO.

from Kherkovec emphasized that the setback that occurred in recent weeks in the fight against COVID-19 -particularly in Europe with a sharp increase in cases and hospitalizations in several countries- has nothing to do with omicron and is entirely a consequence of the circulation of the delta variant.

What is clear is that “if we add another variant, things get more complicated”He added.

The expert asked governments to take aggressive measures now that the first cases of COVID-19 caused by omicron are being registered to prevent this variant from taking off as delta did.

The WHO has recalled in recent days that the omicron containment measures are the same that are already being used and that they are based on vaccination, the use of masks, social distance, as well as avoiding crowds, washing hands and ventilating closed spaces.