Fauci says omicron Covid variant ‘almost certainly’ not more severe than delta

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said that the omicron coronavirus variant is "almost certainly" not more severe than the delta variant the US experienced over the summer.

The doctor spoke with AFP, saying the new variant is "clearly highly transmissible" but noted that despite its higher transmissibility it is not more severe than delta.

Dr Fauci said that experiments testing the potency of antibodies from the various vaccines against the omicron variant should be available in the "next few days to a week."