It was in last month that the first case of the Omicron variant was detected in South Africa. The new variant which is highly transmissible soon spread like wildfire to other nooks of the world, and according to the latest updates, Omicron is present in more than 80 countries. And now, recent statistics suggest that the Omicron variant of the Covid pandemic is spreading quickly in the United States, and it has now surpassed the Delta variant in terms of new infections.
Omicron: The dominant strain in the United States
Omicron now accounts for 73 percent of new infections last week, and it clearly indicates the high transmissibility of the variant. Since the end of June, the Delta variant of Covid has been the dominant strain in the United States, and now the new strain has accelerated the infections in the country.
As Omicron is spreading quickly in the United States, a top medical expert has suggested that this new variant of Covid could strike millions of people in the coming days.
"We're really just about to experience a viral blizzard. In the next three to eight weeks, we're going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus, and that will be overlaid on top of Delta," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN.
Vaccines offer no protection against Omicron
Recently, a study report has suggested that most of the Covid vaccines are incapable to prevent the spread of Covid's Omicron variant.
According to the study report, only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster appear to have the capability of stopping infections. However, these vaccines are not available in most parts of the world, and several countries are relying on jabs developed by AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, and vaccines manufactured in China and Russia.
