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Business News/ News / World/  Omicron: What Dr Fauci said about this new variant of Covid-19.
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Omicron: What Dr Fauci said about this new variant of Covid-19.

'We have not detected yet', but when a virus shows this 'degree of transmissibility' it ‘almost invariably ultimately is going to go essentially all over,’ he said

 White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci  (REUTERS)Premium
 White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci  (REUTERS)

White House chief medical officer, Anthony Fauci, on Sunday, said the new Covid-19 variant called Omicron variant may well already have arrived in the United States of America. 

“I would not be surprised if it is," Fauci said on NBC’s “Weekend Today" on Saturday. “We have not detected yet," but when a virus shows “this degree of transmissibility" it “almost invariably ultimately is going to go essentially all over," he said.

Earlier Fauci had said that the variant was in “ fluid Motion" in South Africa and that the American scientists were in "very active" communication with their colleagues in that country to test the strain, get facts and find out whether or not it evades the antibodies.

The U.S. has from Monday restricted travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the Southern Africa region.

Travel restrictions imposed by Biden on South Africa and seven other countries in the region are a way to buy time for the U.S. to prepare defenses against the variant and shouldn’t lead to panic, Fauci said.

Questions about the Omicron variant include whether it causes disease that’s more serious than infections with the earlier delta variant, he said. While it’s “conceivable" that the latest variant may diminish vaccine protection against Covid-19, existing vaccination may be able to contain it, Fauci said.

Biden, who is at Nantucket for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, has been briefed on the latest and his Covid response team is in regular contact with health officials around the world, according to a White House official. 

“It seems to have spread rather rapidly in South Africa," Fauci said. “Its ability to infect people who have recovered from infection and even people who have been vaccinated makes us say this is something you have to pay really close attention to and be prepared for something that’s serious."

On Saturday, the infectious disease expert had said that, “ We are getting together to find the precise molecular makeup of it(the virus) so you could actually test for it. That will take a bit to put the appropriate material together but we are in very active communication with our South African colleagues and scientists".

“There are concerns over more transmissibility and the possibility of the evasion of the immune response. We do not know for sure right now. This is really something in motion," Fauci cautioned.

When asked about the mutation capability of the new variant, Fauci said explained, “when you look at a mutation it is going to give you a hint or indication that it might evade the immune response. You need to get that particular sequence of the virus, put it in a form in the lab where you can actually test the different antibodies so you can have a prediction that it might evade or you can prove it."

The new variant, which is potentially more contagious, B.1.1.529, was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on 24 November and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.

It was later designated as a “Variant of Concern" by WHO, which named it “Omicron". A “variant of concern" is the WHO's top category of worrying Covid-19 variants.

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Published: 28 Nov 2021, 08:34 PM IST
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