WHO says omicron is life threatening for underlying unvaccinated and aged diseases

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the omicron variant of Covid can cause fatal disease for unvaccinated people, the elderly and those with underlying conditions.

Dr Mike Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said unvaccinated people were at a higher risk of an omicron infection making them seriously ill and possibly even killing them.

“Omicron is still a massive threat to their lives and a massive threat to their health,” Ryan said of the unvaccinated during a question-and-answer session broadcast live on WHO social media Tuesday.

Ryan said people who are vaccinated, on the other hand, usually suffer from mild illness if they get a breakthrough infection.

“People should really be looking at that when they really seriously consider going out and getting the shot,” Ryan said.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Covid-19 Tech manager said that the elderly and those with underlying conditions face a high risk of death from omicron compared to other groups.

“We know that mortality increases with omicron with age,” Van Kerkhove said. “We also have data from some countries which shows that people with at least one underlying disease are at increased risk of hospitalization and death, even if you have omicron compared to delta.”

Van Kerkhove said a lower proportion of people die from Covid during the omicron wave, and the overall risk of serious illness and hospitalization is lower than in the Delta. However, she warned that less severity doesn’t mean omicron only causes mild illness.

“It’s not just a mild illness,” Van Kerkhove said. “It’s really important because people are still hospitalized for omicron.”

Van Kerkhove warned people should not turn fatalistic and resign themselves to the infection, warning that the long-term health implications of catching omicron remain unknown. She said people should get vaccinated, wear properly fitted masks, avoid crowds and work from home if possible.

Ryan said that health outcomes from viral infections often depend on a person’s basic level of health, including whether or not the immune system is strong. People with diabetes, for example, are not as well equipped to fight the virus.

“We can definitely say that a variant of omicron causes, on average, less severe disease in every human – but that’s on average,” Ryan said. “There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world being hospitalized while we are talking about the omicron variant, and for them it is a very serious disease.”

Van Kerkhove said omicron has been detected in all countries where there is good genetic sequencing and is likely to be present in all countries. She said that omicron is overtaking the delta around the world and becoming dominant.

WHO reported 15 million new infections and 43,000 deaths worldwide for the week ended Jan. 3.