3 ms·

Well, it's been a Variant of Concern (VOC) for some days, which was a sign that it's being considered a significant risk.

xlii 5y ago
It's definitely VOC, not the first one we've seen even if it does indeed seem vastly different [1]. Article includes, however, following quote: "Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic," the WHO said. "The overall global risk ...is assessed as very high." I find "Global risk assessed as very high" statement as both very strong and emotional. It is already replicated globally in various other news sources. I checked WHO's newsroom [2] but haven't seen new press events nor news statement. Yesterday's WHO's update [3] doesn't say anything about general risk and word "high" isn't even used. Today Dr Tedros highlighted that we still don't know a lot during World Health Assembly opening speech [4]: We don’t yet know whether Omicron is associated with more transmission, more severe disease, more risk of reinfections, or more risk of evading vaccines. Scientists at WHO and around the world are working urgently to answer these questions. Reuters post itself do name 2 other sources for other quotes directly but this specific one is left as an "WHO" which makes it hard to verify. It is plausible that Reuters' journalist got some internal source on that matter or that WHO's news room was not updated after giving the statement, yet I'd rather have the WHO's official statement (i.e. on their news room website) for such circumstances. [1]: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern [2]: https://www.who.int/news-room https://www.who.int/news-room [3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29373066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29373066 [4]: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-special-session-of-the-world-health-assembly---29-november-2021 https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-dir...

xlii 5y ago

It's definitely VOC, not the first one we've seen even if it does indeed seem vastly different [1]. Article includes, however, following quote: "Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic," the WHO said. "The overall global risk ...is assessed as very high." I find "Global risk assessed as very high" statement as both very strong and emotional. It is already replicated globally in various other news sources. I checked WHO's newsroom [2] but haven't seen new press events nor news statement. Yesterday's WHO's update [3] doesn't say anything about general risk and word "high" isn't even used. Today Dr Tedros highlighted that we still don't know a lot during World Health Assembly opening speech [4]: We don’t yet know whether Omicron is associated with more transmission, more severe disease, more risk of reinfections, or more risk of evading vaccines. Scientists at WHO and around the world are working urgently to answer these questions. Reuters post itself do name 2 other sources for other quotes directly but this specific one is left as an "WHO" which makes it hard to verify. It is plausible that Reuters' journalist got some internal source on that matter or that WHO's news room was not updated after giving the statement, yet I'd rather have the WHO's official statement (i.e. on their news room website) for such circumstances. [1]: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern [2]: https://www.who.int/news-room https://www.who.int/news-room [3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29373066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29373066 [4]: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-special-session-of-the-world-health-assembly---29-november-2021 https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-dir...