He said during a press conference: “Although Omicron causes less serious symptoms than Delta (the mutant that was dominant until now), it remains a dangerous virus, especially for unvaccinated people.”
This mutation, which was first detected in South Africa at the end of November 2021, has since spread widely in the world at unprecedented levels since the start of the epidemic.
And Omicron’s less severe symptoms, especially for fully vaccinated people who received the booster dose, compared to the delta mutant, led some to consider it a “mild” disease.
But Ghebreyesus warned that “more infections mean more hospitalizations, more deaths, more people who will not be able to work including teachers and medical staff, and more risks of another mutant emerging that is more contagious and kills more than Omicron.”
For his part, Michael Ryan, the emergency situation official with the World Health Organization, said, “It is not a mild disease, it is a disease that can be prevented with vaccines.”
Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros https://t.co/ir53m8Y8kz
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 12, 2022
He added, “Now is not the time to drop everything, lower your guard, not the time to say it’s a welcome virus, no virus is welcome.”
Some hope that “because of its rapid rate of spread, Omicron will replace the more dangerous mutant and allow the epidemic to be turned into an easier to control disease.”