Africa Business Radio

The World Health Organization says the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan says it would be unwise to conclude from early evidence that Omicron is a milder variant than previous ones. Soumya Swaminathan says that with the numbers going up, all health systems are going to be under strain. She warned that South Africa and other places reporting lower hospitalisation rates from Omicron had been hit hard in earlier waves, so many of the Omicron cases may have been reinfections.