Act now to curb Omicron's spread, WHO's Tedros tells world

Governments need to reassess national responses to COVID-19 and speed up vaccination programmes to tackle Omicron, though it is it too early to say how well existing shots will protect against the new variant, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. The variant's global spread suggests it could have a major impact on the COVID-19 pandemic, and the time to contain it is now before more Omicron patients are hospitalised, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. 'We call on all countries to increase surveillance, testing and sequencing,' he told a media briefing. '... Any complacency now will cost lives.'