The new Omicron coronavirus variant has not been detected in the United States yet, but the strain is highly likely to spread far and wide, top US infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Saturday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2021) The new Omicron coronavirus variant has not been detected in the United States yet, but the strain is highly likely to spread far and wide, top US infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Saturday.
"We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you are already having travel-related cases that they have noted in Israel and Belgium, and other places; when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over..." Fauci told the NBC broadcaster.�
When asked if the strain can already be in the US, Fauci said that he "would not be surprised."
Earlier in the day, the chairperson of council of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, expressed concern that the new coronavirus strain might be as dangerous as the Ebola virus, and as contagious as the Delta coronavirus variant.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the new South African strain as one of concern, as it potentially may be more transmissible and dangerous. The WHO dubbed the variant Omicron, which is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.
