Geneva-Sana
The World Health Organization has announced that “BCR” tests are still effective in terms of detecting the new mutant of the Corona virus “Omicron”, noting that there are ongoing studies in order to measure the effectiveness of other tools used to diagnose infection with the disease.
“The number of people who tested positive for the virus has increased in parts of southern Africa that have been affected by this mutant, but epidemiological studies are underway to understand whether this is due to “Omicron” or due to other factors,” the organization said in a statement yesterday, reported by Agence France-Presse.
"Preliminary data indicate an increase in hospitalization rates in South Africa but this may be due to the increase in the total number of infected people and not necessarily due to Omicron," the statement noted.
The World Health Organization does not yet know whether the Omicron is more easily transmitted than other mutations, or if it causes more serious forms of the disease.
At a time when the Corona pandemic has killed more than five million people around the world since the end of 2019, the organization described last Friday the new mutation of the Corona virus as “alarming”, as no new mutant has previously caused such concern around the world since the emergence of the delta mutant.