JAKARTA - The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is more contagious than the Delta variant, reducing the vaccine's efficacy, but the symptoms are less severe, according to preliminary World Health Organization (WHO) data on Sunday.
The Delta variant, first identified in India earlier this year, is responsible for most of the world's coronavirus infections.
However, the discovery of the Omicron variant in South Africa, which has a large number of mutations, last month prompted countries around the world to impose travel bans on southern African countries, reintroducing domestic restrictions to slow its spread.
The WHO said the Omicron variant had spread to 63 countries as of December 9. More rapid transmission was noted in South Africa, where the Delta variant is less prevalent, and in the UK, where the Delta variant is the dominant variant.
But stressed, the lack of data means it can't say whether the transmission rate of the Omicron variant is due to less susceptibility to the immune response, higher transmissibility or a combination of the two.
Preliminary evidence suggests that the Omicron variant causes "reduced efficacy of the vaccine against infection and transmission," the WHO said in a technical summary, citing the Times of Israel Dec. 13.
"Given currently available data, it is likely that Omicron will surpass the Delta variant where community transmission occurs," the summary added.
Omicron infections have so far caused "mild" disease or asymptomatic cases, but the WHO said the data were insufficient to establish the clinical severity of the variant.
To note, South Africa reported the Omicron variant to WHO on 24 November. Meanwhile, vaccine maker Pfizer-BioNTech last week said three doses of its vaccine were still effective against Omicron.
Countries with sufficient vaccine supplies such as the UK and France have encouraged their populations to receive booster shots against the Omicron variant.
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