New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday (December 18) said that the Omicron, which had been classified as a ‘variant of concern’, is transmitting faster than Delta and has already reached 89 countries.
The current understanding of the Omicron variant will continue to evolve as more data becomes available, said the global health body.
Noting that the variant outranks Delta in transmissibility but is less severe, the WHO clarified that the Omicron should not be dismissed as a mild variant and people must be vigilant. The global body also urged South-East Asian countries to urgently scale-up public health and social measures as well as vaccinations.
"Countries can, and must, prevent the spread of Omicron with the proven health and social measures. Our focus must continue to be to protect the least protected and those at high risk," said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, in a statement.
Meanwhile, India Omicron case count on Saturday (December 18) rose to 140 after the southern state of Telangana reported 12 new infections taking the total cases in the state to 20. That apart, Karnataka and Kerala reported six and four cases respectively, while three more people in Maharashtra tested positive for the new variant.
About Omicron spread in India, a COVID panel dedicated to analyzing the pandemic situation and developing projections said that India will witness Omicron's third wave but it will be milder than the second deadly wave of the coronavirus.
"Third wave is likely to arrive early next year in India. It should be milder than the second wave due to a large-scale immunity present in the country now. There will definitely be a third wave. Right now, we are at around 7,500 cases per day which is sure to go up once Omicron starts displacing Delta as the dominant variant," the panel said.
