Omicron variants of the coronavirus have been discovered in 89 countries, and Covid-19 cases of the variant are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places where the virus is being transmitted locally, not just in countries where the disease is acquired abroad, according to the World Health Organization on Saturday.
The UN health agency said Omicron is expected to soon overtake Delta as the dominant form of the virus in countries where it is spreading locally due to its “substantial growth advantage.”
Despite the fact that many countries with high vaccination rates or where the majority of the population has recovered from Covid-19 are experiencing rapid spreads of omicron.
WHO said it is still unclear whether the rapid growth of omicron cases is due to the mutation evading existing immunity, to the mutation being naturally more transmissible, or to both of these factors.
Several major questions remain about omicron, including which vaccines are effective against it. It’s also not yet clear how ill patients become from omicron, according to the Health Agency.
Omicron was first classified as a variant of concern by WHO on November 26.
