Omicron cause of concern, ‘not panic’: US President Joe Biden
New Delhi: A new variant of the covid-19 ‘Omicron’ detected first in South Africa could bring a new wave in the world. The World Health Organization has already warned many countries over a new variant of covid-19. Now, the US president has expressed concern over the new variant of covid-19 ‘Omicron’.
US President Joe Biden said that “the strain is “not a cause for panic. The United States was in a good position to control Omicron’s spread. We have more tools today to fight the variant than we have ever had before.”
The G7 health ministers on Monday called for “urgent action” to combat the newly identified variant spreading across the world.
Although no deaths have been reported from Omicron as of now, and it remains unclear how infectious and how resistant the strain may prove to vaccines, its emergence underscores how besieged the world remains by Covid-19.
Australia and Japan added to the growing list of countries imposing fresh travel restrictions or slamming shut their borders due to the new strain which is spreading rapidly to Europe, Asia, and North America, Biden told Americans he did not foresee new lockdowns or extending travel restrictions for now because of Omicron.
Scientists in South Africa said they had detected the new variant with at least 10 mutations, compared with three for Beta or two for Delta — the strain that hit the global recovery and sent millions worldwide back into lockdown.
However, South African doctor Angelique Coetzee, who raised the alarm over Omicron, said the cases she saw suggested the symptoms were milder than other variants.
(_Vinayak Barot)
