Top US scientist Anthony Fauci has said that early indications suggested the Covid-19 Omicron variant was not worse than prior strains. He added that Omicron was possibly milder, while cautioning it would take weeks to judge its severity.
Speaking to AFP, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser broke down the knowns and unknowns about Omicron into three major areas: transmissibility, how well it evades immunity from prior infection and vaccines, and severity of illness.
The new variant is "clearly highly transmissible," very likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain, Dr Fauci said.
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Current data also indicates re-infections are higher with Omicron and it is likely better at evading immunity from vaccination.
On the question of severity, Dr Fauci said "it almost certainly is not more severe than Delta".
Dr Fauci said a more transmissible virus that doesn't cause more severe illness and doesn't lead to a surge of hospitalizations and deaths was the "best-case scenario."