Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Omicron variant is "almost certainly" not more severe than the Delta variant, AFP reported.
Though it will likely take weeks to understand Omircon fully, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told AFP that the new variant could even be milder than its predecessors.
"There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalizations seems to be less than with Delta," Fauci said.
However, Fauci cautioned that data around Omicron was still scarce and that the populations affected by Omicron so far have been young, meaning they were less likely to be hospitalized by COVID-19 previously.
The new variant is still "clearly highly transmissible," and is likely even more transmissible than Delta, Fauci told AFP.
He added that a highly transmissible but milder strain of the virus that does not lead to severe illness or hospitalizations is the "best-case scenario."
—AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 7, 2021
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