According to top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, preliminary reports on the Omicron variant of coronavirus indicate that it may be less dangerous than Delta, which is still causing a surge in hospitalizations.

Despite the fact that the new strain of concern is quickly becoming the most common in South Africa, hospitalisation rates have not risen at an alarming rate. Fauci, on the other hand, has cautioned against drawing conclusions about the severity of Omicron-related illness based on preliminary data.

“Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” President Joe Biden’s chief medial adviser said at CNN’s State of the Union.

“But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta,” he added.

Despite the fact that the Omicron variant has spread to at least 17 US states, Fauci said that as more information becomes available, the Biden administration is reevaluating travel restrictions on south African countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has slammed such policies as “travel apartheid,” and experts are concerned that they will impede future transparency. Critics of the travel ban argue that just because the Omicron variant was discovered in South Africa doesn’t mean it came from there.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to lift that ban in a quite reasonable period of time,” Fauci said. “We all feel very badly about the hardship that has been put on not only on South Africa but the other African countries.”

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization (WHO), told CBS’ Face The Nation that even if the majority of Omicron cases are mild, some will require hospitalisation.

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