Omicron variant 'almost certainly' not more severe than Delta: Fauci

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WASHINGTON — Top US scientist Anthony Fauci said Tuesday (Dec 7) early indications suggested the Covid-19 Omicron variant was not worse than prior strains, and was possibly milder, while cautioning it would take weeks to judge its severity.

Speaking to AFP, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor broke down the knowns and unknowns about Omicron into three major areas: transmissibility, how well it evades immunity from prior infection and vaccines, and severity of illness.

Dr Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases , said results from lab experiments that tested the potency of antibodies from current vaccines against Omicron should come in the"next few days to a week.

"Then as we get more infections throughout the rest of the world, it might take longer to see what's the level of severity." Though it has not yet been linked to any deaths, scientists are particularly concerned by the unique"constellation" of more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that dots the surface of the coronavirus and allows it to invade cells.

Or, the virus could have crossed from humans to animals, then returned to people in a more mutated form, in an example of"reverse zoonosis."

 

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so omicron is to take the heat off delta?

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