The risk posed by the Omicron variant is still “very high”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, after COVID-19 case numbers shot up by 11 percent globally last week.

Omicron is behind the rapid virus spikes in many countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously-dominant Delta variant, the WHO said in its COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update.

“Consistent evidence shows that the Omicron variant has a growth advantage over the Delta variant with a doubling time of two to three days and rapid increase in the incidence of cases is seen in a number of countries,” the WHO said, including Britain and the United States, where it has become the dominant variant.

The news comes as several European countries, including France, UK, Italy, Greece, and Portugal all hit record daily infections. France reported almost 180,000 cases in a 24-hour period on Tuesday.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1325 HRS, DEC 29, 2021
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