Anthony Fauci said, “It’s just … the world is furious.”
Washington:
Top US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci warned of a severe winter ahead on Sunday as the Covid-19 omicron variant sparks a new wave of infections globally, sparking restrictions and concerns over hospital capacity.
“One thing that’s very clear… he (Omicron) has an extraordinary ability to spread,” Fauci told NBC News. “It’s just … raging through the world.”
Since it was first reported in South Africa in November, Omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, prompting many to reimpose travel restrictions and other measures.
Despite indications it is no more severe than the delta variant – currently still the dominant strain – the heavily mutated Omicron has been shown in early data to have worrisome resistance to vaccines and high transmission potential.
Fauci also cautioned against too much optimism over Omicron’s seriousness, noting that in South Africa, while the proportion of hospitalizations is lower than in Delta, it may be due to inherent immunity from widespread past infections.
“No matter how you look at it,” he underlined, “when you have so many, many infections, even if it’s less severe, that offsets this slight to moderate reduction in severity, because Our hospitals, if things look like they’re going to be under a lot of stress in the next week or two,” especially in areas of the country where vaccination levels are low.
The top scientist urged unvaccinated Americans to get vaccinated to get a shot and get boosters, which have again been shown to protect.
The administration of President Joe Biden, who is due to address the nation on Tuesday on the evolution of the pandemic, is campaigning hard for vaccinations.
Fauci said more than 70 percent of the US population has had at least one shot, leaving another 50 million eligible people vulnerable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s never too late to get vaccinated, and if you’ve been vaccinated, go ahead,” Fauci told CNN, continuing to wear a mask and get regular tests — another area in which the Biden administration is investing — are also important to avoid infection.
“With Omicron… it’s going to be tough for a few weeks to months as we get closer to winter.”
Omicron now accounts for about three percent of cases in the United States, a figure that is expected to increase as rapidly as has been seen in other countries.
On Saturday, New York state announced a record number of daily cases for the second day in a row, with nearly 22,000 positive results.
The United States is the worst-hit country by the pandemic, surpassing 800,000 known Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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