Health News Roundup: WHO chief scientist says Omicron 'quite infectious', must not panic; South Africa hit by fourth COVID wave driven by Omicron and more

Omicron, dubbed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, has prompted many governments to impose curbs on travel from southern Africa, and to take other measures to contain it. UK study finds mRNA COVID-19 vaccines provide biggest booster impact COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that use mRNA technology provide the biggest boost to antibody levels when given 10-12 weeks after the second dose, a new British study has found.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

WHO chief scientist says Omicron 'quite infectious', must not panic

The World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the new coronavirus variant Omicron is very transmissible but that people should not panic about it. Swaminathan said during an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Friday that the right response was to be prepared and cautious and not to panic in face of the new variant.

South Africa hit by fourth COVID wave driven by Omicron

South Africa is being hit by a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant which has been detected in seven of the country's nine provinces, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday. Omicron, which has raised global fears of a surge in infections, was first detected in southern Africa last month and has prompted governments across continents to impose travel curbs and take other measures to contain it.

Vaccination, not travel curbs, key to battling Omicron, WHO says

The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to boost healthcare capacity and vaccinate their people to fight a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant, saying that travel curbs could buy time but alone were not the answer.

Despite shutting its borders to travel from high-risk southern African countries, Australia became the latest country to report community transmission of the new variant, a day after it was found in five U.S. states.

Vaccine makers should plan to adjust COVID-19 jabs - WHO

Makers of COVID-19 vaccines should gear up for the "likelihood" of needing to adjust their products to protect against the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization's (WHO) spokesperson said on Friday. Christian Lindmeier, speaking at a U.N. briefing in Geneva, said the agency was studying the transmissibility and severity of the variant first detected in southern Africa last month.

REUTERS NEXT - BioNTech CEO says likelihood of annual COVID-19 vaccines increasing

The likelihood that people will need to have an annual COVID-19 vaccine, similar to the influenza shot, is increasing, German company BioNTech chief executive and co-founder Ugur Sahin told the Reuters Next conference on Friday. To watch the Reuters Next conference please register here https://reutersevents.com/events/next

Botswana says some diplomats found to have Omnicron variant came from Europe

Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said some of the four diplomats who first tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant in the country had come from Europe, calling for a reversal of widespread travel bans imposed against southern African countries. Omicron, dubbed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, has prompted many governments to impose curbs on travel from southern Africa, and to take other measures to contain it.

UK study finds mRNA COVID-19 vaccines provide biggest booster impact

COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that use mRNA technology provide the biggest boost to antibody levels when given 10-12 weeks after the second dose, a new British study has found. The "COV-Boost" study was cited by British officials when they announced that Pfizer and Moderna were preferred for use in the country's booster campaign, but the data has only been made publicly available now.

England's COVID-19 prevalence rises, led by Delta not Omicron

The prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England rose to around 1 in 60 people in the week ending Nov. 27, Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Friday, led higher by the dominant Delta variant rather than the newly identified Omicron.

The prevalence was up from 1 in 65 reported the previous week, the ONS said, adding that 99% of all coronavirus infections which were sequenced were genetically compatible with the Delta variant.

BioNTech CEO confident of quickly adapting vaccine for Omicron

Germany's BioNTech should be able to adapt its coronavirus vaccine relatively quickly in response to the Omicron variant, its CEO Ugur Sahin said, adding that despite the mutation shots should continue to protect people against severe disease. BioNTech and Pfizer Inc together produced one of the first vaccines against COVID-19, with well over 2 billion doses already given to protect people around the world.

Roche develops new research test kits for Omicron variant

Roche's newly acquired subsidiary TIB Molbiol has developed three new test kits to help researchers detect mutations in the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, Roche said on Friday. Governments around the world are urgently scouring databases for recent cases of COVID-19 infections, screening travellers and decoding the viral genomes of the new variant as they try to measure how far it has spread.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)