Dr Anthony Fauci’s warning as Omicron variant lands in US

The US’s top medical adviser has warned there is still a lot to uncover about the latest Covid strain that has recently arrived in America.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said there is not enough information about the latest Covid strain. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

The US’s top medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has conceded authorities don’t yet have enough information about the new Omicron variant.

Chief medical adviser to the US President, Dr Anthony Fauci, appeared on CNN’s Global Town Hall, Coronavirus: Facts and Fears, available to stream on Flash, to answer questions from the public about the latest Covid-19 strain, that was today confirmed as being detected in the US.

The program’s co-host Anderson Cooper asked the nation’s leading infectious disease expert if we know enough yet about the variant.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN Global Town Hall, ‘Coronavirus: Facts and Fears’. Picture: Flash

“Having a single person who had what would be considered a breakthrough infection because the person was fully vaccinated doesn’t really tell you much at all,” Dr Fauci said.

“We have breakthrough infections with Delta where people who have been vaccinated, fully vaccinated very often more often than not they have mild illness.

“From what we’ve heard from our colleagues at UCSF in San Francisco ... this person had mild symptoms and is actually improving.

“But it’s only a single person, Anderson, so you really can’t make a broad general statement or an extrapolation for what would go on with unvaccinated people or people who were boosted, so there’s a lot still to be learned and hopefully over the ensuing weeks or maybe a few weeks, two to three weeks, we’ll get a lot more information.”

The Medical Adviser said there is not enough information about the Omicron variant. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

When asked about whether it was safe to travel despite the lack of information about the new Covid-19 variant, the medical expert said Americans were still safe to travel and would not recommend anything different than previous safety guidance.

“We just have a problem that’s identifiable now, and just as I said, and I’ll say it again, if you have a vaccinated situation, your family’s vaccinated, enjoy the holidays, indoor with your family in a family setting,” Dr Fauci said.

The first person tested positive to Omicron variant in the US was fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine but had not received a booster dose.

The person had travelled from South Africa to California on November 22 and tested positive November 29. The traveller had mild symptoms and was self-isolating.

A microscopic image of the Covid-19 virus. Picture: National Institutes of Health/AFP

The new variant was first reported in South Africa on November 24 2021. However, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany reported cases of the strain before it was officially announced.

Dutch health authorities revealed the Omicron variant was found in two test samples from November 19 and 23, with one having no travel history, suggesting that the variant was already circulating in the Netherlands, the RIVM public health institute said.

The first Omicron cases in the Netherlands were previously believed to have been the cluster of 14 among passengers on two flights from South Africa that arrived in Amsterdam.

The disease has rapidly become a dominant variant. WHO proclaimed Omicron as Covid-19 variant of concern based on how quickly the virus has spread.

Several countries have detected the strain, including Australia.

To date, there have been eight people infected with the Omicron Covid-19 strain including seven in NSW and one in the Northern Territory.

The latest case was a traveller who arrived on a flight from Doha to Sydney on November 23. The person was infected with the new strain as part of ongoing genomic sequencing into the confirmed Covid cases in returned travellers.

Many countries have already slammed their borders shut to southern Africa, with Australia banning travellers from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Malawi.

– With AFP