The variant omicron of the coronavirus has been detected in 89 countries, and the cases of COVID-19 related to this mutation are doubling between 1.5 and 3 days in places with community infections and not only by infections acquired abroad, reported on Saturday the World Health Organization.
The “substantial growth advantage” of omicron over the delta variant means that it will likely soon overtake delta as the dominant form of the virus in countries where the new variant is spreading locally, the UN health agency added.
The WHO noted that omicron is spreading rapidly even in countries with high vaccination rates or where a significant proportion of the population has recovered from COVID-19.
It is not yet clear whether the rapid growth in omicron cases is due to the variant evading existing immunity, is inherently more transmissible than previous variants, or a combination of both, the WHO warned.
Other important questions about omicron remain unanswered, including the efficacy of each of the existing COVID-19 vaccines. There is still no conclusive data on other details of the omicron, the health agency said.
The WHO first labeled omicron as a variant of concern on November 26.
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