The World Health Organization (WHO) admits that it has not found any deaths due to infection with the new variant of Covid-19, Omicron. This was conveyed directly at a press conference in Geneva, Friday, (12/3/2021).
WHO said it was gathering evidence on the severity of the infection caused by the variant with 32 mutations in its spike protein.
“I have not seen any reports of deaths related to Omicron,” said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier. “We are gathering all the evidence and we will find more evidence as time goes on.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said COVID-19 vaccine makers may need to adapt their vaccine products to effectively protect people from the Omicron variant.
WHO chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, reminded the world community not to panic over the findings of the Omicron variant. According to him, it is still too early to confirm that the COVID-19 vaccine needs to be modified to effectively address the dangers of the Omicron variant.
“You don’t have to panic, there’s some ‘relaxing’ news from WHO about Omicron!. As more countries continue to test people, and look specifically at Omicron variants, we will also find more cases, more information and, hopefully not, but also possible deaths,”.
Meanwhile, WHO revealed that one of the ways that world countries need to take is to accelerate vaccination. In addition, the global health agency requested that the world’s citizens continue to adhere to the health protocols that have been previously determined.
“We must not rely solely on border measures. The most important thing is to prepare for this variant with a high transmission potential. So far the available information indicates that we do not need to change our approach,” said Takeshi Kasai, WHO’s western Pacific director.
The Omicron variant itself was initially reported in South Africa and Botswana. Currently, the variant has been reported in several countries such as Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, Nigeria, Portugal and Hong Kong.
