World leaders need to keep a watchful eye on whether the new Omicron variant BA.2 is causing more people to be admitted to hospital, chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden has said. Dr Anthony Fauci said Covid-19 is “really unpredictable” and said leaders have to “look at the balance” when it comes to considering future restrictions.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme on BBC, Dr Fauci said it is “quite correct” to be seeing Covid-19 cases increase around the world in light of the strain’s greater transmissibility and the relaxation of restrictions, while immunity tends to wane. He said: “The important thing that we need to keep an eye on is that it doesn’t appear to be associated with any increase in severity in the form of increased hospitalisations.”
Asked if the world no longer needs to worry about coronavirus, he said: “No, I’m not saying that at all. Whenever you get any surges, particularly of this virus that has given us so much trouble, I would never say don’t worry about it.
