Even Though Symptoms Are Mild, Complacency Will Cost Lives: WHO On Omircon Variant

'Certain features of Omicron, including its global spread and a large number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the COVID19 pandemic', said the WHO chief.

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that early data has shown that while the transmission of the Omicron variant easily reinfects those who have had the virus or are vaccinated, the disease is likely to be milder than that of the previous variants. 

He told reporters that more data is needed to draw a firmer conclusion. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, adding that "there is also some evidence that Omicron causes milder disease than Delta".

He also urged that countries should boost their surveillance to help get a clearer picture of how this variant is behaving which will help to draw firm conclusions on Omicron. "The Omicron variant has now been reported in 57 countries and we expect that number to continue growing. Certain features of Omicron, including its global spread and a large number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the COVID19 pandemic", said the WHO chief.

Dr. Tedros also said that as global concern grew over the heavily mutated variant, has forced dozens of nations to re-impose border restrictions and raised the possibility of a return to economically punishing lockdowns. Even if it does turn out that Omicron causes less severe disease, Tedros warned against slacking off vigilance against the virus.

"Any complacency now will cost lives," he warned.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan agreed and said that the Omicron variant is "efficiently transmitting, and probably more efficiently transmitting even than the Delta variant."

"That does not mean that the virus is unstoppable," he said. 

"But it means the virus is more efficient at transmitting between human beings. And therefore we have to redouble our efforts to break those chains of transmission to protect ourselves to protect others", he added.

He also said that even if the variant is less dangerous it could still sicken more people and overburden health care systems.

The WHO experts stressed the importance of vaccination, highlighting that even if vaccines prove less effective against Omicron, as some data indicates, they are still expected to provide significant protection against severe disease.

Meanwhile, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that quick reaction to the early reactions to early studies hinting that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may have reduced efficacy against the new variant stating that the studies were "very small". 

"So I think it's premature to conclude that this reduction neutralising activity would result in a significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness," she said. "We do not know that."