The world health organisation (WHO) has stated that Omicron is spreading faster than the other COVID-19 variants. 

Speaking on the matter, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO for South-East Asia region said that one should not dismiss Omicron as ‘mild’. 

“Based on the current limited evidence, Omicron appears to be spreading faster at a rate not seen with any other previous variant,” Dr Singh said in an interview to news agency ANI. 

She added: “The overall threat posed by Omicron largely depends on three key questions: (1) how transmissible the variant is; (2) how well vaccines and prior SARS-CoV-2 infection protect against infection, transmission, clinical disease and death; and (3) how virulent the variant is as compared to other variants.” 

Also read: Omicron scare: Nagaland fears likely increase in COVID cases during festive season

The Omicron variant of coronavirus infects and multiplies 70 times faster than Delta and the original COVID-19 strain, but the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a study. 

Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally has risen to 87 on Thursday. 

According to reports, a fully vaccinated woman with no travel history tested positive for Omicron in Gujarat’s Mehsana district.