WANHEARTNEWS.COM - A new variant of the Corona virus (COVID-19), Omicron, has reportedly spread to about a third of the United States (US). However, US health authorities said the Delta variant still dominates Corona cases in the US, especially when the number of cases has increased nationwide in recent times.
As reported by Reuters on Monday (12/6/2021), while the emergence of the Omicron variant has sparked worldwide concern, leading US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, who is also President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told CNN that "so far there does not appear to be any the great severity of the consequences'.
But Fauci also added that it was too early to draw definitive conclusions and that further study was needed.
According to a Reuters tally, at least 16 US states have reported cases of the Omicron variant, without specifying the total number of cases in the US.
The states that have detected the Omicron variant include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Most cases of the Omicron variant in the US are detected in fully vaccinated individuals and they develop mild symptoms. One of the cases of the Omicron variant detected in Louisiana was found in a person traveling within the US.
Despite the spread of the Omicron variant, the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Richelle Walensky, told ABC News that the Delta variant still accounts for 99.9 percent of new cases of Corona in the US region.
