Emergence of variants reminder that pandemic far from over: WHO Regional Director

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, South-East Asia Region Director, World Health Organisation (WHO), on Friday said that the risk of COVID-19 remains high globally, adding that the emergence of variants is a reminder that the pandemic is far from over. "The risk of COVID-19 remains high globally. The emergence of variants is a reminder that the pandemic is far from over," Dr Poonam said today.

Amid concerns arising out of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region also said that Omicron appears to be spreading faster than any other previous variant and added that one should not dismiss it as "mild". "We should not dismiss Omicron as mild. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the number of cases could once again overwhelm health systems," she said.

Dr Singh further said that preliminary data suggest that vaccines may likely have reduced effectiveness against infections by Omicron variant. "It will take a few more weeks before there is enough evidence to fully assess vaccines' performance against Omicron." "However, more data are needed to draw firmer conclusions. There is still limited data on clinical severity associated with Omicron. More information on case severity associated with Omicron is expected in the coming weeks," she added.

As many as 101 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 so far have been detected across 11 States and Union Territories in India, the Central government informed on Friday. A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.

On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.