Washington: Superseding the Delta variant, the Omicron variant is now estimated to be 58.6 per cent of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States for the week ending on December 25, reported Reuters quoting the data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to agency’s data released on Tuesday, now Delta variant accounts for 41.1 per cent of all US COVID-19 cases as of Christmas Day.
CDC has also revised down the Omicron proportion for the week ending December 18 to 22 per cent from 73 per cent, saying that there was a wide predictive interval posted in last week’s chart, in part because of the speed at which Omicron was increasing, said Reuters’ report.
Sharing CDC’s data on Twitter, former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that if agency’s new estimate of Omicron prevalence is precise then it suggests that a good portion of the current hospitalizations may still be driven by Delta infections.
Setting aside the question of how the initial estimate was so inaccurate, if CDC’s new estimate of #Omicron prevalence is precise then it suggests that a good portion of the current hospitalizations we’re seeing from Covid may still be driven by Delta infections. https://t.co/ZacVjEhk5x
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) December 28, 2021
CDC has said the new data includes modeled projection that may differ from weighted estimates generated at later dates.
The fast-spreading variant was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong in November. The first known case of the variant in the United States was identified on December 1 in a fully vaccinated person who had traveled to South Africa.
Meanwhile, The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday warned that the Omicron coronavirus variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it sparks milder disease.
“A rapid growth of Omicron… even if combined with a slightly milder disease, will still result in large numbers of hospitalisations, particularly amongst unvaccinated groups, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services,” warned WHO Europe’s Covid Incident Manager Catherine Smallwood, according to AFP.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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