Omicron shows need for global accord on pandemics, says WHO chief

Passengers arrive at Heathrow Airport in London as travel restrictions return because of the new variant of coronavirus (Frank Augstein/AP)

The World Health Organisation is pushing for an international accord to help prevent and fight future pandemics amid the emergence of the worrying new Omicron variant of Covid-19.

WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday that many uncertainties remained about just how transmissible and severe infection by the highly mutated Omicron might be.