The World Health Organization on Friday declared the recently discovered B.1.1.529 strain of COVID-19 to be a variant of concern, renaming it Omicron.
“Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology… the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern, named Omicron,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
The WHO classified the strain as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the Delta variant, the world’s most prevalent. The panel said early evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection.
Health experts have said the strain is the most concerning since Delta. Omicron, like Delta before it, is a letter in the Greek alphabet.
The announcement Friday from the United Nations health agency marks the first time in months that WHO has classified a COVID-19 variant as a variant of concern.
