New Delhi, Nov 29, : The global risk associated with Omicron, a new Covid variant, was assessed as very high by the World Health Organisation Monday. Omicron is a highly diverse variant, with a high number mutations, including 26-32 during the spike.
Some of these mutations are of concern, and may be associated to immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.The global health body added that there are still many uncertainties.
The WHO stated that Omicron could spread further at the global level because of mutations that may confer immunity escape potential and transmissibility advantage.
The global health organization added that future surges of Covid-19 could occur, which could have serious consequences depending on many factors, including where the surge might occur.
The WHO stated that the global risk associated with the new variant is very high.
The WHO recommended priority actions for member states.
However, it stressed the importance of enhancing surveillance and sequencing efforts to better comprehend circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Omicron.WHO stated that community testing should be done to determine if Omicron is present in the community.
The WHO recommends that Accelerating Covid vaccination coverage should be done as quickly as possible, particularly for high priority populations who are still not vaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated.
Even with the Omicron variant, masks, physical distancing and ventilation of indoor spaces, crowd avoidance and hand hygiene are still key to reducing the transmission of SARS CoV-2.
In WHO’s technical paper on Covid-19, the WHO recommends that Covid-19 cases be contacted to break transmission chains.
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