WHO chief scientist say Omicron is very transmissible

[December 03, 2021]    (Reuters) - The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is very transmissible but people should not panic about it, the World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the Reuters Next conference on Friday.

World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan attends a press conference organised by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via REUTERS

Swaminathan said the emergence of the variant was unwelcome but that the world was much better prepared to handle it given the development of vaccines since the start of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Stephanie Nebehay and Josephine Mason; Editing by Keith Weir)

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