Wouldn’t be surprised if Omicron COVID variant is already in US: Anthony Fauci

Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden, on Saturday warned that the new COVID-19 variant, named ‘Omicron‘, may already be in the United States. The variant, which was first detected in South Africa, has been identified as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization.

Speaking to NBC, Fauci, who is also director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the variant is already in the United States.

Also Read: New COVID-19 variant Omicron not a disaster, says UK’s SAGE scientist

“You know, I would not be surprised if it is. We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re already having travel-related cases that they’ve noted in Israel and Belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go, essentially all over,” Fauci said.

“Its ability to infect people who have recovered from infection and even people who have been vaccinated makes us say this is something you have to pay really close attention to and be prepared for something that’s serious. It may not turn out that way, but you really want to be ahead of it,” he added. 

Also Read: US to ban travel from South Africa, 7 other African nations due to new COVID variant

The Omicron variant is said to be heavily mutative in character. South Africa’s health department said that some of the variant’s mutations could reduce protections offered by vaccines. So far, apart from South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium have reported cases of the variant. 

The WHO identified the strain as a “variant of concern” and said that it is more transmissible than others and may be capable of eluding vaccine protections.