Covid-19: WHO chief scientist urges people not to panic over Omicron

The World Health Organization's chief scientist says people should not panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Soumya Swaminathan told the Reuters Next conference it was too early to say if vaccines would need to be reworked because of the variant.

The fast-spreading variant would have to become more transmissible to out-compete the Delta variant, which accounts for 99 percent of current transmissions, Swaminathan said.

"We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we're in a different situation to a year ago," she said.

Swaminathan cited data showing the number of Omicron cases is doubling daily in South Africa, where it was first identified.

Many governments have tightened travel rules to keep the new variant out.

Nevertheless, Omicron has been identified in 40 countries, said US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky.

A corporate Christmas party in the Norwegian capital Oslo resulted in at least 13 infections, making it the biggest outbreak outside of South Africa, officials said.

Much remains unknown about Omicron. Parts of Europe are grappling with a wave of infections of the more familiar Delta variant.

WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said there was no evidence that existing vaccines needed to be modified to fight Omicron. He said officials should focus on getting more people inoculated with vaccines currently on the market.

"We need to focus on getting people most at risk vaccinated," Ryan said at a social media event.

However, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a United Nations briefing in Geneva that vaccine makers should prepare for the likelihood of adjusting their products.

Ugur Sahin, the chief executive of BioNTech, which makes a Covid-19 vaccine with Pfizer, told Reuters the company should be able to adapt the shots relatively quickly.

Sahin also said current vaccines should continue to provide protection against severe disease, despite mutations.

"I believe in principle at a certain timepoint we will need a new vaccine against this new variant. The question is how urgent it needs to be available," Sahin said.

Worrying gaps in vaccination

Australia became the latest country to report community transmission of the new variant, while Nebraska became the sixth US state to report its presence.

Zimbabwe said it had identified 50 cases and Canada reported 11.

Almost 264 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus since it was first detected in central China in late 2019 and 5.48 million people have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Cases in Europe, the pandemic's current epicentre, crossed the 75 million mark today.

Vaccination rates vary from country to country but there are worrying gaps in poorer nations. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and once Asia's Covid-19 epicentre, has fully inoculated only about 35 percent of its population.

In the United States, the Biden administration has announced measures to guard against the virus spreading. From Monday, international air travellers arriving in the United States will have to have obtained a negative

Covid-19 test within a day of travel.

Fewer than 60 percent of the US population have been fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among wealthy nations.

Germany said it would bar the unvaccinated from all but essential businesses, and legislation to make vaccination mandatory would be drafted for early next year.

Several countries, including Britain and the United States, were bringing forward plans to offer booster shots, but, like travel bans, they are controversial.

Many scientists say the way to stop the virus spreading is to make sure poorer countries have access to vaccines, not to give blanket booster shots to people in richer countries.

-Reuters