WHO expects to have more information on Omicron transmission 'within days'

The World Health Organisation expects to have more information on the transmissibility of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus within days, technical lead on Covid-19 Maria van Kerkhove said.

A laboratory technician wearing protective equipment works on the genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Covid-19) and its variants at the Centre National de Reference of respiratory infections viruses of the Pasteur Institute in Paris on January 21, 2021. (file photo) Genome sequencing carried out on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a laboratory in France, January 2021. Photo: AFP

That was faster than the "weeks" the WHO had predicted last week that it would take to assess the data available on the variant after designating it a "variant of concern", its highest rating.

Whether the variant is more transmissible or evades vaccines are some of the major questions that still need answering.

Vaccine developers have said it will take about two weeks to assess whether their shots are effective against it.

Van Kerkhove said one possible scenario was that the new variant, which was first reported in southern Africa, may be more transmissible than the dominant Delta variant. She said it was not yet known if Omicron makes people more ill.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the agency believed the existing Covid-19 vaccines will work against the variant.

First reported a week ago, Omicron has spread to more than a dozen countries, spooking financial markets. Governments have responded by reintroducing some travel restrictions.

Mike Ryan, WHO's emergency director, reiterated the agency's opposition to the blanket bans on flights to and from southern Africa that have been imposed by Britain and other countries, saying it would not prevent the variant's spread.

"The idea you can just put a hermetic seal on some countries is not possible. I can't see the logic from an epidemiological or public health perspective."