Trading Concept
  • Home
  • Trading News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Trading News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Trading Concept
No Result
View All Result
Home Trading News

WHO says omicron Covid variant detected in 38 countries, early data suggests it’s more contagious

by
December 3, 2021
in Trading News
0
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RELATED POSTS

China risks miscalculation with pressure on Taiwan, U.S. says

Student makes $110mn trading meme stock favourite Bed Bath & Beyond

STR | NurPhoto | Getty Images

The World Health Organization on Friday said the omicron Covid-19 variant has been detected in 38 countries, up from 23 two days ago, with early data suggesting the strain is more contagious than delta.

“We do see an increasing growth rate, we see increasing numbers of omicron being detected,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead said during a Q&A livestreamed on the group’s social media channels Friday. “But we have reports of omicron in 38 countries in all six WHO regions.”

“There is a suggestion that there is increased transmissibility, what we need to understand is if it’s more or less transmissible compared to delta,” Van Kerkhove said, noting that the delta variant is still dominant across the globe.

Van Kerkhove said it’s still too early to understand the severity of disease caused by omicron. Early reports of mild symptoms in some of the first cases where it was identified were based on a cluster of university students who tend to be younger and experience more mild symptoms than older adults, she said.

“There was initial reports that it tended to be more mild, but it’s really too soon,” Van Kerkhove said. “Everybody who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 regardless of what variant will always start out with a mild disease. And so maybe it will stop there with mild, some people are asymptomatic of course, but it may stop with mild disease or it may take some time.”

Van Kerkove said there are increasing hospitalizations in South Africa, but public health officials haven’t seen an increased risk of death yet, but they’re waiting on more data.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergency program, said public health officials initially saw mild cases with the alpha and delta variants as well. It could take two weeks to see increased mortality associated with omicron if the variant does, in fact, cause more severe disease.

“It takes time unfortunately,” Ryan said. “We saw that as well in previous waves of this pandemic. When the incidence rate goes up, it takes a week or two for that to result in hospital admissions and deaths.”

Van Kerkhove cautioned there’s a reporting bias at the moment which may obscure how virulent the variant really is. Many of the people around the world who have tested positive for omicron were healthy travelers, which could explain why the symptoms reported so far are mild.

“If you’re traveling, you’re not sick or you shouldn’t be traveling if you’re sick,” Van Kerkhove said. “So there’s a bias in terms of what is being detected at the moment, but that will change over time.”

The first person in the U.S. who tested positive for omicron was a fully vaccinated traveler between 18 and 49 years of age returning from South Africa to the San Francisco area.

Van Kerkhove called on nations around the world to increase genetic sequencing of Covid-19 cases to detect new variants and share the results publicly to better understand the evolution of the virus.

“Now is the time to beef up the systems,” she said. “You’ve heard us say that for quite some time now, but it’s not too late to do this — systems need to be reinforced.”

Van Kerkhove noted that South Africa was the first country to report omicron to the WHO, but the timeline could change as more countries sequencie a backlog of Covid cases from November.

“So some of the earliest cases of this particular variant may very well not be in South Africa,” she said.

Van Kerkhove and Ryan said the current vaccines remain the most effective measure to slow transmission of the virus. Ryan said there’s a “clear relationship” between vaccine inequity and the development of variants around the world. The WHO has repeatedly criticized wealthy nations for not doing enough to get vaccines to people in poorer countries around the world.

Pfizer and Moderna have said it will take about two weeks to know how omicron impacts the current vaccines as researchers gather data.

“Right now there is no need to change the vaccines we’re currently using,” Ryan said. “There is no evidence to support that. There is no evidence there to change, but there’s a lot of work going on to look at if we were to change, how might we change those vaccines and that work needs to be done upfront.”

ShareTweetPin

Related Posts

China risks miscalculation with pressure on Taiwan, U.S. says

by
August 18, 2022
0

Flags of United States and China displayed on phone screens in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland...

Student makes $110mn trading meme stock favourite Bed Bath & Beyond

by
August 18, 2022
0

Trial Try full digital access and see why over 1 million readers subscribe to the FT $1 for 4 weeks...

The retail trader is back led by the meme gang, and these are their favorite stocks

by
August 18, 2022
0

Retail traders are back in full force. Data compiled by Vanda Research show retail traders have purchased an average of...

Thursday: Unemployment Claims, Philly Fed Mfg, Existing Home Sales

by
August 18, 2022
0

by Calculated Risk on 8/17/2022 09:02:00 PM Thursday: o At 8:30 AM ET, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will...

Top tech investor reveals why he thinks PayPal is a buy

by
August 18, 2022
0

It has been a good month for PayPal . The financial services firm reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results and a renowned...

Next Post

Here's where the jobs are -- in one chart

Weak jobs number not expected to deter the Fed from speeding up its exit from easy policy

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

email

Get the daily email about stock.

Please Enter Your Email Address:



By opting in you agree to our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

MOST VIEWED

  • WHO says Covid vaccine booster programs will prolong pandemic

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Forget Tesla — this auto stock is the one to buy right now, analyst says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Spin or Split? AT&T Has a Big Decision to Make on Discovery Stake.

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here’s how Carl Icahn is positioning for a possible recession in America

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Some lawmakers and their families are betting thousands of dollars on crypto

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Home
  • Trading News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
All rights reserved by tradingconcept.net
No Result
View All Result
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy

All rights reserved by www.tradingconcept.net