We continue to talk about the Omicron variant , among new alarms and calls to moderate the alert level.

Since its discovery in South Africa, the virus has crossed the borders of all continents: in addition to Europe, cases have also been recorded in Australia, Botswana, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, South Africa, United Kingdom.

The eyes are obviously focused on vaccines and on how much they will be able to protect and hinder the spread of the infection. Moderna says that if a new vaccine against Omicron is needed, Moderna will be able to "produce it on a large scale by the beginning of next year".

According to the Chief Medical Officer of the US company, Paul Burton, as reported by the Guardian: "We must be confident, we have learned a lot about Covid and how to deal with it", he said, underlining that "it is a dangerous-looking virus," but now we have many tools in our armory to fight it, so I'm optimistic. "

Burton explained that a better idea of the effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron variant will be in the "next two weeks", but if a new vaccine is needed, "it could be mass-produced by early 2022".

THE SITUATION IN EUROPE - To date, a total of 33 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Europe. This was announced by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc). The reports come from eight countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal. All confirmed cases have a history of travel to African countries or connecting flights to other destinations between Africa and Europe. All cases for which information on severity is available were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.

EU - The Omicron variant is "highly transmissible" and requires "urgent action", say the G7 health ministers who met today for a coordination meeting.

"We must continue to act quickly to increase vaccination efforts, and increase our protection", the words of the EU Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, taking part in the G7 meeting. We must "wear masks and maintain social distancing when necessary".

FAUCI - Overseas the situation seems even more worrying. The US is "in an advanced state of alert" in the face of the new Omicron variant, White House pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci told ABC, where he warned about the risk of a fifth wave in the United States. The virologist has relaunched the opportunity to get vaccinated and booster without waiting for the development of a specific vaccine against the Omicron variant, "which - he said - perhaps we may not even need".

(Unioneonline / D)

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