Weeks before answers to risk posed by Omicron - WHO

The number of mutations in the Omicron variant was reason for concern, WHO's Dr Margaret Harris said.

World Health Organisation spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris has said that it will be weeks before there are answers to the risks posed by the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The reason the WHO had described it as a variant of concern was because it remained unknown how easily it could be transmitted, if it could evade vaccines and if people were being reinfected with it.