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Soaring omicron could lead to more dangerous variants, WHO warns

Soaring omicron cases around the globe could increase the risk of a newer, more dangerous variant emerging, the World Health Organization in Europe warned on Tuesday.

While the variant is spreading like wildfire around the world, it appears to be far less severe than initially feared and has raised hopes that the pandemic could be overcome and life return to more normality.

But WHO senior emergencies officer Catherine Smallwood sounded an ominous note of caution, telling AFP that the soaring infection rates could have the opposite effect.

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“The more omicron spreads, the more it transmits and the more it replicates, the more likely it is to throw out a new variant. Now, omicron is lethal, it can cause death … maybe a little bit less than Delta, but who's to say what the next variant might throw out,” Smallwood told AFP in an interview.

Europe has registered more than 100 million Covid cases since the start of the pandemic, and more than five million new cases in the last week of 2021, “almost dwarfing what we have seen in the past”, Smallwood said.

“We're in a very dangerous phase, we're seeing infection rates rise very significantly in Western Europe, and the full impact of that is not yet clear,” she said.

Smallwood also noted that while “on an individual level there's probably a decreased risk of hospitalization” with the omicron variant compared to delta, overall, omicron could pose a greater threat because of the sheer number of cases.

“When you see the cases rise so significantly, that's likely to generate a lot more people with severe disease, ending up in hospital and possibly going on to die,” she said.

Britain on Tuesday faced warnings of an impending hospital crisis due to staff shortages caused by a wave of omicron infections, as the country's daily Covid caseload breached 200,000 for the first time.

Smallwood said she expected that scenario to play out in other European countries as well.

“Even in well-capacitated, sophisticated health systems there are real struggles that are happening at the moment, and it's likely that these will play out across the region as omicron drives cases upwards.”

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Read more:

Omicron hospitalization risk is far below delta’s in two studies

Omicron multiplies 70 times faster than delta in human airways: Study

Israeli study finds Pfizer COVID-19 booster protects against Omicron

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Mubadala Health Dubai’s multipurpose gym a resounding success during Dubai Fitness Challenge

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Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi achieves pioneering ACCME® accreditation milestone in the UAE

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the M42 network, has become one of the UAE’s pioneering healthcare organisations to receive Provisional Accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®). The accreditation acknowledges the hospital as a distinguished provider of Continuing Medical Education (CME), further empowering the institution to grant credits for local, regional, and international medical education programs, including the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA) Category 1 Credit™. Dr. Jorge Guzman, Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, expressed his
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accreditation, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has set its sight on attracting a global audience of
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strengthen UAE’s positioning as a medical education hub.” The ACCME accreditation reinforces the commitment of CME providers to ensure that medical education remains fair, balanced, evidence-based, valid, relevant to clinicians’ needs, evaluated for its effectiveness, and free from any commercial influence. By achieving this designation, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi strengthens its mission to ‘educate those who serve’ and solidifies its role in advancing medical knowledge with the highest standards of integrity. Dr. Sawsan Abdel-Razig, Chief Academic Officer at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, commented, “We are truly honored to be recognized as a leading ACCME-accredited organization in the UAE. Our Education Department designs robust, competency-based education and professional development programs that provide world-class healthcare education to current and future healthcare providers. This achievement further enhances Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s
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World News in Brief: Aid cut threat for Afghan deportees, saving Rohingya lives at sea, China respiratory illness spike, new rail transport treaty

Emergency support for thousands of Afghan families repatriated from Pakistan could dwindle due to a lack of funding as winter approaches, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday.

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