"Omicron is almost certainly less severe than Delta"

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Anthony Fauci, director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases, said that the omicron mutation almost certainly appears to be less severe than the delta mutation. He also said that specific research results on how effective the existing coronavirus vaccine is for omicron mutations will be released soon.

Correspondent Ahn Sang-woo.

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Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that Omicron is highly likely to be stronger than Delta in terms of contagiousness.

However, the severity of the symptoms was almost certain to say that the omicron was no less severe than the delta mutation.

Fauci said that tracking the number of infections and hospitalizations in South Africa showed a lower proportion of hospitalized patients than Delta.

It spreads quickly, but in terms of severity and mortality, "Omicron may be less severe than delta."

He added, however, that it is still too early to make a conclusion as South Africa has a younger population, so hospitalization rates are lower, and it takes several weeks for severe symptoms to appear.

Also, Fauci said the results of a study on how effective the vaccine-formed antibodies are against omicron mutations will be available in a few days.

In the midst of this, the South African Medical Association only tested positive while children were admitted to the hospital for other reasons, such as diarrhea, in response to the report that the number of children who were hospitalized for COVID-19 infection in their country was rapidly increasing. He said he was not hospitalized because he was more susceptible to omicron mutations.