The latest on the Omicron coronavirus variant

The new Omicron variant could eventually become the dominant strain and scientists are still trying to understand how it behaves — but the biggest concern right now is the dominant Delta variant, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, said Friday.

Walensky said Omicron could become the dominant strain in the country, but that is not clear yet. She said the country has stepped up its sequencing work to try and learn more about the new variant. There are five states reporting cases so far. 

“What we do know is that early data, and even mutation data are telling us that this may well be a more transmissible variant than Delta. And so … this is gonna take some time to sort out,” Walensky said.

One case in Minnesota was in a resident who had had a Covid-19 booster. Walensky said they are still trying to understand more about the case. 

“It is helpful to understand that this person had mild symptoms that have, to my understanding, resolved pretty swiftly,” Walensky said. “So it this may very well be actually a story of vaccines success, and not necessarily one of vaccine failure.” 

The more mutations you have with a variant the more you want to bolster immunity, Walensky said. 

“If you have previously had infection, you will definitely be more protected if you also get a vaccine, and that's really the goal here, is to try to provide the most amount of protection as possible so people will be protected against severe disease and ideally against infection altogether,” Walensky said.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said as health officials are learning more about the Omicron coronavirus variant, it "may be a more transmissible variant than Delta," but further research and time is required to reveal specific details.

Delta still accounts for "the vast majority" of Covid-19 cases in the United States, she said.

Even if a person has been infected with Covid-19 in the past, Walensky encouraged them to get vaccines and get a booster shot.

President Biden yesterday announced new steps to combat Covid-19 in the winter — including changing testing rules for international travelers and requiring insurance companies to pay for at-home tests — and Walensky said officials are scaling up rapid testing in US international airports.

"The whole point is to have accessible, affordable tests for when you need or want one, and that is exactly what all of the scale-up has been about," she said.

The first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant was detected in Mexico on Friday, according to Mexican Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell.

"The diagnosis for the recovery is favorable. Since November 26, we established a virological surveillance protocol that identifies early cases of Covid-19 in people arriving from any country," he said.

According to a statement from the health ministry, the person arrived in Mexico on Nov. 21, and six days later, presented symptoms characteristic of mild Covid-19.

The health minister also wrote in a tweet that closing borders and blocking people or goods "are not useful measures to contain the variants."

He added the World Health Organization refers that vaccination continues to be essential to reduce the risks of hospitalization and death.

"We call to keep calm and continue to apply measures to avoid contagion: safe distance, use of face masks, cover your sneeze, and frequent hand washing," López-Gatell also wrote. 

Early Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said it was very likely that this new variant will appear in the country, noting that "it is known that there are affected in Canada, the United States and elsewhere."

According to health authorities in Mexico, the circulation of variants of concern have been detected, such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron.

The White House continued to defend its recent travel restrictions imposed on eight African countries due to concerns over the Omicron variant, despite the fact that the variant has now been detected across the world, including multiple cases in the United States. 

The restrictions on the African countries, which went into effect earlier this week, were described by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as “travel apartheid” Thursday. 

He continued, “We’ll continue to rely on their expertise regarding how we make sure that we keep the American people safe, and that will directly impact the duration of these travel restrictions.”

The topic has come up at multiple White House press briefings this week. Earlier Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden would continue to follow the advice of medical experts still learning more about the Omicron variant. 

On Wednesday, she said the travel restrictions were “not a political decision” but were “intended to give us more time to do the necessary evaluation, data and testing required.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that he hopes the restrictions are “sorted out and lifted” quickly. 

“That's a very good question, an important question, and we did struggle with that. But we wanted to see if we could buy time temporarily so I do hope that this gets sorted out and lifted before it has any significant impact on the country,” said Fauci, chief medical adviser to the President.

President Biden reiterated that travel measures announced yesterday are "sufficient" to address the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Multiple cases of the new variant have been identified in the US.

"I continue to rely on scientists and asking them whether or not we have to move beyond what we did yesterday. Right now, they're saying no," Biden told reporters after speaking about November's jobs report.

The new rules, which start on Monday, will require each traveler flying into the US from another country to test negative for Covid-19 one day before their departure.

Biden said he has previously suggested the suspension of vaccine patents for easier access. He said South Africa is not requesting any more vaccines at this time.

When asked about his hoarse voice while speaking, the President said he has a cold due to a "1 1/2-year-old grandson who had a cold who likes to kiss his pop." He said he gets tested for Covid-19 every day.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said he would not “sugarcoat” a lower-than-expected November jobs report, citing the “new normal” of the US economy in the continued aftermath of pandemic disruption. 

“I’ve certainly learned to unfortunately not follow the forecast… Every time, it’s pretty much been the forecast has been higher than the number, and a couple times, the other way around. We have to look at this as a whole plan: Since President Biden has taken office, the economy is getting stronger and stronger every day. We’re seeing nearly 6 million people returning to the workforce. We’re seeing a full two points drop off the unemployment number,” Walsh said to CNN's Jim Sciutto. 

At least 210,000 jobs were added to the US economy last month, far lower than economists’ predictions.

On vaccine mandates, he said the administration is waiting for courts to resolve challenges to vaccine requirements.

“At the end of the day, we want to make sure we keep people safe and healthy and allow people to go back to work and come back to their workplace and feeling safe – that’s the intention behind it,” he said.  

There is a "clear relationship" between vaccine inequity and the development of new coronavirus variants, said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist.

“Absolutely,” she said at the ReutersNEXT global conference on Friday, when asked if it was fair to say that if Africa had received and administered more vaccines, then perhaps Omicron would not be here. “I think this is a message that we’ve been — [Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus], the [WHO] director-general — has from the beginning, insisting, and it wasn’t because the equity was only for ethical reasons, it was for exactly these scientific and epidemiological reasons.” 

She said that when the virus is just transmitting and going from person to person, there would ultimately be new variants – and this will keep happening.

“There’s a clear relationship between inequity in access to vaccines and the development of variants,” she said. 

Swaminathan also said that it’s possible that modified versions of Covid-19 vaccines will be needed for Omicron, but too early to know now. Studies that could answer this question will take another week or two.

World Health Organization Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said on Friday that it’s too early to conclude whether the Omicron coronavirus variant leads to milder illnesses overall.

Speaking at the Reuters NEXT Global Conference, Swaminathan said that it’s very early and it has only been one week since Omicron was classified a variant of concern by the WHO and just a couple of weeks since it was first observed in South Africa.

“But, it’s too early for us to conclude that this is a mild version,” she added.

Swaminathan cautioned that everything she was speaking about now would be different when more is known about the variant. 

“There’s always a lag between infection progressing to severe disease,” she said, adding that surges in hospitalizations and deaths come two weeks after surges of cases. 

“I think we need to wait; let’s hope it’s milder, especially in those who are vaccinated or who have some previous natural immunity, but it’s too early to conclude about the variant and its behavior as a whole,” she said. 

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said on Friday that although it’s early, the Omicron variant appears to be very transmissible. 

“From the early reports that we have, starting with the Gauteng province where it was first observed, and then across the different provinces of South Africa, we do think it is quite infectious, quite transmissible, because South Africa has been reporting a very rapid increase in the number of cases. In fact, they’ve been doubling every day, and that suggests that this virus is highly transmissible,” Swaminathan said at the Reuters NEXT Global Conference.

Swaminathan also pointed out that “huge thanks” are owed to South Africa’s scientific and medical community, who have been updating and working nonstop to provide as much information as possible.