Omicron ‘raging through the world’, 'no doubt' about breakthrough infections: Fauci
White House medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said the new variant of concern has the extraordinary capability of spreading, adding that the United States is going to see breakthrough infections.
Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said the Omicron variant of coronavirus is “raging through the world” as he urged Americans to continue wearing masks and get a vaccine booster dose. Appearing for NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’, Fauci said the new variant of concern has the extraordinary capability of spreading, adding that the United States is going to see breakthrough infections.
"We are going to see breakthrough infection - there is no doubt about that," the top immunologist said.
The White House medical adviser has, however, ruled out the possibility of complete lockdown.
“I don’t foresee the kind of lockdowns that we’ve seen before but I certainly see the potential for stress on our hospital system,” he said in a separate interview with ABC’s “This Week.”
Speaking to CNN, Fauci predicted that stress on the medical system will be particularly acute in regions with low levels of vaccination.
Fauci’s remarks came a day the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Omicron circulating in at least 89 countries. The UN health agency said Covid cases involving the new variant of concern are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission. It warned that Omicron is likely to soon overtake Delta as the dominant variant in countries where local transmission has taken place.
The worrying rate of transmission of the Omicron variant has prompted countries around the world to tighten travel restrictions.
The United Kingdom has been witnessing a record number of confirmed cases of the new variant of concern. On Sunday, the UK Health Security Agency said an additional 12,133 cases of Omicron have been confirmed over the previous 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 37,101.
