THE World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday the COVID omicron variant has been detected in 38 countries, up from 23 two days ago, with early data suggesting the strain is more contagious than delta.

“We do see an increasing growth rate, we see increasing numbers of omicron being detected,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, said during a Q&A live-streamed on the group’s social media channels Friday. “But we have reports of omicron in 38 countries in all six WHO regions.”

“There is a suggestion that there is increased transmissibility, what we need to understand is if it’s more or less transmissible compared to delta,” Van Kerkhove said, noting that the delta variant is still dominant across the globe.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said “clearly the virus does appear to be transmitting efficiently.”

“And we saw that before with delta. So again, there’s certain things we shouldn’t be surprised with,” Ryan said.

Omicron has some 30 mutations on the spike protein, which is the mechanism used to bind to human cells. Some of these mutations are associated with higher transmission and the ability to escape immune protection, according to the WHO.

South African scientists last week found that omicron is associated with a “substantial ability” to reinfect people who already had COVID, compared with past variants of the virus. The study, published by the South African Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, has not yet been peer reviewed.

Van Kerkhove said it’s still too early to understand the severity of disease caused by omicron. Early reports of mild symptoms in some of the first cases where it was identified were based on a cluster of university students who tend to be younger and experience more mild symptoms than older adults, she said.

“There was initial reports that it tended to be more mild, but it’s really too soon,” Van Kerkhove said.

(SD-Agencies)