The World Health Organization said that 23 countries across the world have reported cases of the highly mutated omicron Covid-19 variant.
“At least 23 countries from five of six WHO regions have now reported cases of omicron and we expect that number to grow,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters during an update Wednesday in Geneva.
The names of 23 countries in which the new variant has been reported are , Botswana , South Africa , Nigeria , United Kingdom , South Korea , Australia , Austria , Belgium , Brazil , Czech Republic , France , Germany , Hong Kong , Israel , Italy , Japan , Netherlands , Norway , Spain , Portugal , Sweden , Canada , Denmark .
“WHO takes this development extremely seriously and so should every country. But it should not surprise us,” Tedros continued. “This is what viruses do. And it’s what this virus will continue to do, as we long as we allow it to continue spreading.”
“We are learning more all the time about Omicron, but there’s still more to learn about its effect on transmission, severity of disease, and the effectiveness of tests, therapeutics and vaccines,” Ghebreyesus told at a press briefing.
The variant, which was reported to WHO by South Africa a week ago, has more than 30 mutations to the spike protein alone. Some of the mutations are associated with a decrease in antibody protection and higher transmission, according to the WHO.
He urged countries to bolster vaccination efforts and other prevention measures, noting that low vaccine coverage and testing in countries is a “recipe for breeding and amplifying variants.”
