The World Health Organisation said in its weekly epidemiological report on Wednesday that more data was needed to assess the severity of disease caused by the Omicron variant and whether its mutations might reduce protection from vaccine-derived immunity.
The number of reported Covid-19 cases in South Africa doubled in the week to December 5 to more than 62,000 and "very large" increases in incidence have been seen in Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Lesotho.
The Omicron variant can partially evade the protection from two doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday, reporting the results of a small, limited study.
Reuters