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COVID-19 Live Updates: Omicron Is 'Super Mild,' No Need To Panic, Say WHO Experts

The new COVID variant, Omicron has created a panic worldwide but WHO experts have said there is no need to panic as the symptoms are 'mild.' Get all the latest COVID updates right here!

Omicron Is 'Super Mild,' No Need To Panic, Say WHO Experts

With international flight bans and other COVID-19 rules, Omicron has created panic among the masses. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) experts believe that there is no need to panic and the variant is 'super mild.' Dr Angelique Coetzee, South African Medical Association discovered that the symptoms of the new variant are not as dangerous as the Delta variant. The doctor stressed that no deaths or severe illness had been reported as a result of the new variation, indicating that it may not be as serious a problem as some have suggested in recent weeks.

South African doctors have backed up this notion, claiming that the vast majority of Omicron variant instances they've observed so far have been "mild" rather than "severe." Experts from the World Health Organization have also warned countries not to apply travel restrictions because they are "extreme measures" that are unnecessary in such minor instances.

Dr Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO's Regional Office for Europe said, "These types of interventions are not sustainable. Those types of extreme measures are not our recommendations." Another WHO expert, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, regional director for Africa, urged nations not to apply travel restrictions. He further emphasised that while these limits may help contain the spread of the variant, these impositions can have a significant negative and impact on the economy and livelihoods of the isolated regions' residents.