The renowned scientist of the American government Anthony Fauci said this Monday that his country is on “alert” for the new variant of Covid-19 and urged people to get vaccinated after Canada confirmed its first cases of Omicron.
“There are no confirmed cases (of Ómicron) but obviously we are on a high level of alert,” Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
The scientist also encouraged people to get vaccinated against coronavirus or to get immune boosters soon, rather than waiting for drug companies to tailor doses specifically to the Omicron variant.
“Faced with a variant like this, although there is much that we do not know about it, one thing we do know is that vaccinated people do much, much better than those who are not vaccinated, and particularly when they have a booster,” he said.
“When you get vaccinated and give yourself a booster and your (antibody) level goes up, you’re going to have some level of protection, at least against a severe form of the disease,” said Fauci, an advisor to the White House about the pandemic.
“I would definitely suggest that reinforcements be applied now.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this Monday that the new omicron variant of the coronavirus presents “a very high risk”, and countries around the world are restricting travel from southern Africa, where it was detected for the first time, as well as taking other precautions.
The WHO also assured that it could take several weeks to know if it represents significant changes in transmission, severity or carries implications for anticovid vaccines, tests and treatments.
The United States has restricted travel from eight countries in southern Africa and its neighbor Canada did the same with seven countries.
On Sunday, Canada reported that it had detected its first cases of the new variant, in two people who had recently traveled to Nigeria.
Both patients were isolated, while the health authorities located their possible contacts.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx