AFP
Groups of people line up to get tested for COVID-19 in Times Square on December 5 in New York City.
The Omicron variant of thecoronavirus has spread to about one-third of US states, butthe Delta version remains the majority of COVID-19 infections ascases rise nationwide, US health officials said on Sunday.
Though the emergence of the new variant has caused alarmworldwide, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseaseofficial, told CNN "thus far it does not look like there's agreat degree of severity to it." He added that it was too earlyto draw definitive conclusions and that more study is needed.
Fauci, US President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser,said he also hoped the United States would lift its ban ontravelers from southern African countries in a "reasonableperiod of time."The South African government has complained it is beingpunished – instead of applauded – for discovering the newvariant and quickly informing international health officials.
Fauci, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union,"praised South Africa for its transparency and said the UStravel ban was imposed at a time "when we were really in thedark" and needed time to study the variant.
At least 16 US states have reported Omicron cases:California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland,Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, NewYork, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, according toa Reuters tally.
Many of the cases were among fully vaccinated individualswith mild symptoms, although the booster shot status of somepatients was not reported.
Despite several dozen Omicron cases, the Delta variant stillaccounts for 99.9 percent of new COVID cases in the United States,CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News in aninterview.
"We are everyday hearing about more and more probable casesso that number is likely to rise," she said.
The United States over the last seven days has averaged119,000 new cases a day and lost nearly 1,300 lives to COVID-19 each day, according to a Reuters tally.
Louisiana currently has one Omicron case from an individualwho traveled within the United States, its health departmentsaid on Sunday.
On Saturday, it said a Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltdcruise ship set to dock in New Orleans with more than3,000 passengers found 10 cases of COVID-19 on board.
Officials said passengers on the Norwegian Breakaway, whichstopped in Belize, Honduras and Mexico, would be tested andgiven the CDC's post-exposure and quarantineguidelines.
The emergence of the new variant has sharply curtailed thenumber of energy executives and government ministers planning toattend the four-day World Petroleum Congress in Houston thisweek, which had already been rescheduled from 2020.
But travel restrictions and worries over the new variant sawenergy ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Qatar,Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Turkey and Romania bowedout, WPC officials said on Sunday.
Governors of two states with reported Omicron cases –Connecticut and Colorado – said they hoped theirhigher-than-average vaccination rates would blunt the impact.
"We want to see how well the vaccinations hold up,"Colorado's Jared Polis told ABC.
As US Omicron cases emerge, COVID-19 vaccine makers aim toquickly tweak their shots to target the variant and USregulators have vowed speedy reviews, but that could still takemonths.
"Certainly, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) will moveswiftly and CDC will move swiftly," Walensky said.
Moderna Inc has targeted US approval of anupdated vaccine as soon as March, but company officials onSunday said it will still take time to increase output.
Moderna Co-founder and Chairman Noubar Afeyan told CNN itwould take another seven to 10 days to gather key data. Then, it"will take a good 60 to 100 days" to deploy an Omicron-specificshot, although other options like a higher dose of the currentbooster are being explored, he said.
US government officials are also working with Pfizer Incand Johnson & Johnson on updated shots, whilePfizer and Merck & Co Inc are pursuing COVID-19 pilltreatments.