Geneva/New Delhi | Jagran World Desk: The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible than the Delta variant but causes less severe symptoms as per early data, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday, adding that the Omicron strain reduces the vaccine efficacy.
The Delta variant, first identified in India in September 2019, caused most infections worldwide ever since and was also the cause behind the devastating second wave of COVID-19 in the months of April-May this year in India.
The discovery of Omicron strain of COVID-19 in South Africa late last month, pushed countries to reintroduce the restrictions to contain the spread of pandemic. Omicron strain of COVID-19 which has large number of mutations, has spread to 63 countries as of December 9.
Early evidence suggests Omicron causes "a reduction in vaccine efficacy against infection and transmission", the WHO said in a technical brief.
"Given the current available data, it is likely that Omicron will outpace the Delta variant where community transmission occurs," it added.
Omicron infections have so far caused "mild" illness or asymptomatic cases, but the WHO said the data was insufficient to establish the variant's clinical severity.
South Africa reported Omicron to the WHO on November 24. Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer/BioNTech last week said three doses of their jabs were still effective against Omicron.
Are Indian vaccines effective against Omicron?
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that booster dose of AstraZeneca (Serum Institute of India’s Covishield) is effective against Omicron variant. A third booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine provides 70-75 per cent protection against symptomatic infection from the Omicron variant, UKHSA said.
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Meanwhile, reports have quoted Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) officials saying that Covaxin, being a whole virion vaccine could work better than mRNA vaccines. Official reports of the study of efficacy of Covishield and Covaxin against Omicron will be released in the immediate future by Indian Council of Medical Research.