The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Technical Head, Maria Van Kerkhove, on Sunday said the Omicron coronavirus variant is less severe than the Delta variant, but it’s still a dangerous virus, reported Live Mint.
When asked why people are ending up in the hospital or losing their lives despite Omicron being less severe, Kerkhove said people who are infected with Omicron have the full spectrum of disease, everything from asymptomatic infection all the way through severe disease and death.
“People with underlying conditions, people with advanced age, people who are unvaccinated can have a severe form of Covid-19 following infection from Omicron,” the WHO technical head said.
On a query regarding if everyone will eventually get Omicron, Karkhove said Omicron is overtaking Delta in terms of circulation, and it is very efficiently transmitted between people. She noted that although case numbers were high around the world, it still did not mean that everybody will get Omicron.
Stressing on vaccination against Covid-19, she said that it is protective against severe disease and death, but it also does prevent some infections and some onward transmission.
Last week, the WHO regional office for Africa had said that cases of Covid had plummeted in that region and deaths were declining for the first time since the Omicron-dominated fourth wave of the virus reached its peak.
In related news, the European head of WHO Hans Kluge said the Omicron variant of coronavirus could infect 60 percent of Europeans by March this year.
“It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” Kluge said.
Once the current Omicron surge is over, Kluge said there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection and also lower seasonality.
