Top US scientist Anthony Fauci says THIS about severity of Omicron variant

Top US scientist and President Joe Biden's Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci has said that the new 'variant of concern', Omicron is 'clearly highly transmissible' more so than the current dominant strain Delta. He further added that early indications suggest it is not worse than prior strains and was possibly milder.

However, Fauci cautioned that it would take weeks to judge its severity before anything confirmed can be said about the Omicron variant. Anthony Fauci while speaking to an international media said that the study around Omicron is divided into three major areas. This includes transmissibility, how well it evades immunity from prior infection and vaccines and severity of illness.

The US scientist informed that the epidemiological data collected from around the world indicates that re-infections are higher with Omicron and it is likely better at evading immunity from vaccination. But it is certainly not more severe than Delta as the number of hospitalisations seems to be less than with Delta.

However, he also pointed out that this reading could change because as of now more young populations had been affected by it. Presently lab experiments are on to find out the potency of antibodies from current vaccines against Omicron, the results of which will come out in the next few days, informed Anthony Fauci.

Another important question regarding the new variant remains is its origin. Anthony Fauci says science remains unclear on it, but there are two main theories. One is that it evolved inside the body of an immunocompromised patient, such as a person with HIV who failed to rapidly fight off the virus.

Another is that it could be an example of 'reverse zoonosis' meaning the virus could have crossed from humans to animals, then returned to people in a more mutated form. The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 has now been detected in at least 38 countries.