WHO   Denies   Occurrence of Deaths due to “Omicron”   despite     Spreading Globally

Several countries announced the detection of local infections with the “Omicron” mutant of the Coronavirus (known also as COVID-19), at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that it had not received “any information about deaths from it.”

"I have not seen any information that there have been deaths associated with Omicron," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said during a press conference held today, Saturday in Geneva.

He revealed that more countries resort to testing for the new mutant.

Lindmeier added the WHO  will have more infections, more information, although there are no deaths so far.

And the World Health Organization monitors the  “Omicron” globally, although it does not yet know much information about it, such as the severity of its infection, the effectiveness of vaccines against it, and the severity of the symptoms it causes.

While the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control suggested that "Omicron" "may cause more than half of the infections caused by the "SARS Cove 2" virus in the European Union within the next few months."

On the other hand, a study conducted by South African scientists showed that the risk of recurring Covid-19 infection is three times higher with "Omicron" compared to the "Beta" and "Delta" mutant.

However, Russia is working to produce a copy of the "Sputnik V" vaccine against Omicron mutant, and laboratories including "Moderna", "AstraZeneca", "Pfizer - Piontech" and "Novavax" have expressed confidence in their ability to produce a new vaccine against "Omicron".

But an expert at the World Health Organization, Maria Van Kerkhove, confirmed that the “Omicron” mutant of the Coronavirus had been found until now in 38 countries.

And she said that the WHO  has received reports on the Omicron mutant from 38 countries," explaining that "these countries are located in all six regions of the world.