is not going to cut it as a headline. many joining me now is cnn s medical analyst dr. jonathan reiner, who s been cautioning against all of this speculation. doctor, should this be the leader story right now? i think it should not be the lead story right now because it s a story that is based entirely on speculation. but the dow dropped almost 1,000 points on friday. right. because the speculation was all bad. so this is what we know. we know that this variant contains literally dozens of mutations. and when evolutionary biologists look at these mutations, they worry the variant could have increased transmissibility or increased verlants or univague, meaning they can evade antibodies produced by vaccines or prior infections, but the truth is we have no idea when
probably are not. right. but there are big stories that this actually discloses, that this uncovers. the big story, it appears this variant has come out of africa somewhere, although the exact location is unclear. we re calling this sort of a south african variant. we have given it a greek letter now but we don t really know the place of origin of this variant. but it is probable that this has come out of somewhere in subsaharan africa. but the big story, really big story, is that only 4% of the population of that part of that continent is fully vaccinated, 4%. right. the developed world has failed the rest of the world in terms of providing vaccine. and the again, the big story is we are not safe until everyone is safe, both around the world and locally in the
Further tests are now underway on the travelers who arrived at Amsterdam s Schiphol Airport to establish if any of them have the new omicron variant of COVID-19 that was first discovered in southern Africa.
COVID-19 Omicron: How to protect oneself from new variant of concern - WHO said Omicron may spread more quickly than other forms, and preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection.
She is now urging concerned stakeholders to rally support behind a team of scientists said to be focused on the development of a local Covid-19 vaccine