The Omicron variant appears to be no worse than other coronavirus strains, top scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States said while cautioning that more research is needed to judge its severity.
The hopeful assessments came as global concern grew over the heavily mutated variant, which has forced dozens of nations to re-impose border restrictions and raised the possibility of a return of economically punishing lockdowns.
While it is likely more transmissible than previous variants, Omicron is also “highly unlikely” to completely evade vaccine protections, the WHO’s second-in-command said Tuesday.
“The preliminary data doesn’t indicate that this is more severe. In fact, if anything, the direction is towards less severity,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said in an interview, insisting though that more research was needed.
Ryan also said there was no sign that Omicron could fully sidestep protections provided by existing COVID vaccines.
“We have highly effective vaccines that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalization… There’s no reason to expect that it wouldn’t be so” for Omicron, he added, pointing to initial data from South Africa, where the strain was first reported.
However, Ryan acknowledged that it was possible that existing vaccines might prove less effective against Omicron, which counts more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that dots the surface of the coronavirus and allows it to invade cells.
Top US scientist Anthony Fauci echoed the WHO’s view, saying Omicron did not appear worse than prior strains based on early indications — and was possibly milder.
The new variant is “clearly highly transmissible,” very likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain, Fauci said.
“It almost certainly is not more severe than Delta,” he added. “There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe.”
But he noted it was important to not over-interpret this data because the populations being followed skewed young and were less likely to become hospitalized. Severe disease can also take weeks to develop.
“Then as we get more infections throughout the rest of the world, it might take longer to see what’s the level of severity.”
The detection of the first Omicron cases last month coincided with surges in infection numbers across the world, and the variant added fuel to concerns about a global Covid resurgence.
As European Union health ministers met Tuesday to find ways to coordinate their response, Norway announced it will tighten restrictions to combat its surge.
It followed a suspected outbreak of Omicron last week among dozens of partygoers who had all been vaccinated led to new restrictions in and around the capital Oslo.
Neighboring Sweden also said Tuesday it would launch a series of anti-COVID measures.
Elsewhere in Europe, Poland said from Dec. 15, it will restrict the number of people allowed in churches, restaurants and theaters, and make vaccination compulsory for health care workers, teachers and the military from March 1.
While the positive initial assessments of Omicron helped lift the mood, especially among global markets as fears of another economic downturn subsided, the variant’s emergence has highlighted that the fight against the pandemic is far from over.
COVID-19 has killed more than 5.2 million people around the world since the coronavirus was first declared in late 2019, with scientists and health experts saying vaccinations and continued social distancing are keys to defeating the disease.
But vaccine requirements have led to resistance in many countries, either because of misinformation and conspiracy theories or the economic and logistical impact of such mandates.
About 4,000 people protested in Brussels on Tuesday against a plan by the Belgian government to make vaccines compulsory for health workers from early next year.
“We are in favor of vaccination, but why only health workers?” said nurse Perrine.
“Because everyone must be vaccinated, it is everyone or no one.”
Also on Tuesday, CNN reported that researchers in South Africa said the Omicron variant partly escapes the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine, but people who have been previously infected and then vaccinated are likely to be well protected.
Boosters are also likely to protect people, Alex Sigal of the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, who led the study team, told CNN.
The Omicron variant has now been detected in at least 38 countries.
Though it has not yet been linked to any deaths, scientists are particularly concerned by the unique “constellation” of more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that dots the surface of the coronavirus and allows it to invade cells.
Fauci said the science remains unclear on how the variant originated, but there are two main theories.
Either it evolved inside the body of an immunocompromised patient, such as a person with HIV who failed to rapidly fight off the virus.
Or, the virus could have crossed from humans to animals, then returned to people in a more mutated form, in an example of “reverse zoonosis.”
On Tuesday, the United States hit its latest vaccination milestone, with 60 percent of the population fully vaccinated — but Fauci said there remained a long way to go.
The 80-year-old physician and scientist stressed that misinformation continued to hamper the country’s pandemic response, with the problem particularly acute in Republican-led states.
“Misinformation is still a really, really important detriment to an adequate response,” he said.
“We have in this country 60 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated and have not gotten vaccinated, and much of that is along ideological and party lines, which is very unfortunate.”
So-called “red states” led by Republicans continue to be less vaccinated than “blue” states run by Democrats.
“There’s no reason for that, that should not be, we should have a uniform public health attitude,” he concluded.