WHO classifies new Omicron variant as COVID 'variant of concern'

WHO headquarters.
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Just when we thought we could sleep off our food comas in peace.

The World Health Organization on Friday officially classified a new strain of the coronavirus first found in southern Africa as a global "variant of concern," following initial detection reports that sent markets into a tailspin, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Preliminary evidence suggests the newly-named Omicron variant presents a higher risk of reinfection, and may also be more transmissible than other strains, the WHO said. Notably, the organization "only labels COVID strains as variants of concern when they're more transmissible, more virulent or more adept at eluding public health measures including vaccines and therapeutics," writes CNBC.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In what might be a futile bid at keeping the mutation off its shores, many countries have already imposed travel restrictions on flights arriving from Southern Africa.

It will, however, take "weeks" to understand how the variant might impact existing treatments and diagnostics, the WHO explained, per CNBC. Read more at CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.

Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.