Omicron Spreads In US, Australia With First Locally-Transmitted Cases

The World Health Organization has said it could take weeks to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and whether it causes more severe infections -- as well as how effective current treatments and vaccines are against it.

The United States and Australia announced their first locally transmitted cases of the Omicron variant as authorities worldwide rushed Friday to stem the spread of the heavily mutated strain of Covid-19.

The World Health Organization has said it could take weeks to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and whether it causes more severe infections -- as well as how effective current treatments and vaccines are against it.

But the new variant, first reported by South Africa, has already cast the world's recovery into doubt, with the EU health agency warning it could cause more than half of Europe's Covid cases in the next few months.

More than two dozen governments have now detected cases of the variant -- including India, one of the countries hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic since it first emerged nearly two years ago.