OMICRON IS FASTEST-SPREADING COVID VARIANT YET: WHO

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Omicron could become dominant in Europe next month.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters the strain had been reported in 77 countries and had “probably” spread to most nations undetected “at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant”.

Von der Leyen told the EU Parliament that “if you look at the time it takes for new cases to double in number, it seems to be doubling every two or three days”.

“By mid-January, we should expect Omicron to be the new dominant variant in Europe,” she continued. Yet von der Leyen added that there are “enough vaccine doses for every European now” as EU countries push to deliver booster jabs.

Dutch primary schools will close early before the Christmas holiday as Europe battles a fresh wave of infections and hospital admissions, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a major parliamentary test seeking to impose fresh Covid curbs.

Omicron, first detected by South Africa and reported to the WHO on November 24, has a large number of mutations, setting alarm bells ringing since its discovery.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which was first identified in India and accounts for the bulk of the world’s coronavirus cases. AFP, 15 DEC, 2021-