According to the Australian epidemiologist, preliminary information that Omikron is more infectious but does not cause severe disease may turn out to be good. Prof. Tony Blakely believes this could prove to be a way out of the pandemic, Australian TV 7news reported.
Omikron – a new variant of the coronavirus
Blakely, who is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, relies on preliminary reports from South Africa showing that Omikron is more infectious than the Delta variant, but does not cause such a severe course of the disease.
- See also: What are the symptoms of the new Omikron variant?
A milder virus, which does not cause hospitalization-requiring diseases, but also spreads very quickly and could become the dominant variant, could largely solve the pandemic problem, Blakely believes.
The expert notes, however, that it cannot be ruled out that the variants of the coronavirus that will appear after Omikron will be more dangerous.
– There will be more variants and there is no guarantee that the one that comes after Omicron and the next ones will be milder. They might as well be more dangerous, emphasizes Blakely.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) earlier said on Thursday that mathematical models indicate that a new variant of the Omikron virus could be responsible for more than half of infections in Europe in a few months. In addition, Omikron may turn out to be more potent than Delta and become the dominant coronavirus.
- Editors recommend: Experts say when Omikron will spill over Europe
On Tuesday, ECDC chief Andrea Ammon said Omikron infections detected in Europe were “mild or asymptomatic”.
Further part under the video.
It is not yet known whether the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines will have to adjust their formulations due to the appearance of the Omikron variant, but the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was preparing for such an eventuality.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it expected “in the days” more information on the transmission of the new variant of the coronavirus.
It is still unknown, emphasizes the WHO, whether the Omikron variant is resistant to existing vaccines, or whether it causes more severe effects than other variants of the coronavirus.
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