The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"There is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant," the WHO director-general told the briefing.
"And it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected," Tedros said.
His comments echoed the finding of study by Imperial College London, which said last week the risk of reinfection was more than five times higher and it has shown no sign of being milder than Delta.
In the short term, Tedros said that holiday festivities would in many places lead to "increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths" and urged people to postpone gatherings. "An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled," Reuters cited him as saying.
Tedros also said China, where the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first detected at the end of 2019, must be forthcoming with data and information related to its origin to help the response going forward. "We need to continue until we know the origins, we need to push harder because we should learn from what happened this time in order to (do) better in the future," Tedros said.
