The World Health Organization (WHO) is now recommending that people cancel some of their holiday plans as the Omicron coronavirus variant spreads rapidly across the world.
According to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, difficult decisions needed to be made as there is now evidence that the new variant is “spreading significantly faster” than the previous dominant Delta strain.
Many nations have already taken action to curb the Omicron spread, including reimposing travel restrictions.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant strain in the United States, accounting for 73% of new transmissions even as the White House says President Joe Biden has no plans to lock down the country.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US expert on infectious diseases, meanwhile warned that holiday travels would increase the spread of the new variant even among people who have been fully vaccinated.
US nationals are now advised against traveling to more than 80 countries listed as high-risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including nearly the entirety of Europe.
The Netherlands has so far imposed a strict lockdown over the holiday period, while France and Germany are implementing travel curbs and the UK said it was reserving the possibility of introducing new rules.
The WHO is meanwhile advising people not to assume that the Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa in November, is less severe than previous variants based on early evidence.
It added that the pandemic could be over as early as next year if 70% of every nation on the planet gets vaccinated by the middle of 2022. (NNT)
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