European stocks rebounded and Wall Street steadied itself, while Asian markets fell further. It’s not done with us,” warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general.ĭays after the variant sent a shudder through the financial world nearly two years into the pandemic that has killed over 5 million people, markets had a mixed reaction Monday. “Many of us might think we are done with COVID-19. While the majority of omicron infections recorded around the world have been in travelers arriving from abroad, cases in Portugal and Scotland have raised fears that the variant may already be spreading locally. Spain on Monday became one of the latest countries to report its first confirmed omicron case, detected in a traveler who returned Sunday from South Africa after making a stopover in Amsterdam. Richard Hatchett, head of CEPI, one of the founders of the U.N.-backed global vaccine sharing initiative COVAX. “The emergence of the omicron variant has fulfilled, in a precise way, the predictions of the scientists who warned that the elevated transmission of the virus in areas with limited access to vaccine would speed its evolution,” said Dr. Scientists have long warned that the virus will keep finding new ways to exploit weaknesses in the world’s vaccination drive, and its discovery in Africa occurred in a continent where under 7% of the population is vaccinated. Last week, a WHO advisory panel said it might be more likely to re-infect people who have already had a bout with COVID-19.
While no deaths linked to omicron have been reported so far, little is known for certain about the variant, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or more able to evade vaccines. The WHO stressed that while scientists are hunting evidence to better understand this variant, countries should accelerate vaccinations as quickly as possible. “The overall global risk … is assessed as very high.” “Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of COVID-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors, including where surges may take place,” it added. But it said preliminary evidence raises the possibility that the variant has mutations that could help it both evade an immune-system response and boost its ability to spread from one person to another. WHO said there are “considerable uncertainties” about the omicron variant. and members of the European Union, have moved to prohibit travelers arriving from southern Africa. Japan announced it is barring entry to all foreign visitors, joining Israel in doing so.
WHO warns that new virus variant poses ‘very high’ risk – Orange County Register Close Menu
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