“It’s premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus about the fight against Covid yesterday.“This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes,” said Ghebreyesus in opening remarks at the organization’s weekly Covid update. “WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2.” Preliminary findings seem to indicate that BA.2 is more transmissible, but not more virulent, than the original Omicron.The Director-General and other WHO officials sought during the briefing to warn countries not to let their guards down, particularly with respect to Omicron.
While not designated as such on the WHO web site yet, the WHO Covid-19 technical lead said on Monday that, since BA.2 is Omicron, it is a variant of concern.The average number of daily Covid cases has declined in many countries of late — including the U.S., which is down 44% over the past 14 days.
But WHO officials warned that the virus is evolving.The organization was one of the earliest reputable bodies to sound the alarm on Omicron, designating it a variant of concern on November 26, 2021.
Since then, several other Omicron lineages have been identified. The original Omicron, now called BA.1, has been joined by BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3.
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