Yahoo Finance ‘Encouraging signals’ about Omicron Covid variant, says Anthony Fauci
A top US health official has suggested there are positive signs about the severity of Omicron as the country re-evaluates its travel ban on South Africa.
Dr Anthony Fauci said signs emerging from South Africa were encouraging and the US was constantly placing its travel bans under review.
His comments came after a Republican senator accused him of overhyping Covid, saying: “Fauci did the exact same thing with Aids.”
This was flatly rejected by Dr Fauci, who told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday: “Thus far, though it’s too early to really make any definitive statements about [Omicron], it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it.”
He said: “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that [it’s] less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness comparable to Delta.
“But, thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity. But, again, you got to hold judgment until we get more experience.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to GOP Sen. Ron Johnson accusing him of "overhyping" Covid-19: "Over hyping Covid? It's already killed 780,000 Americans and over 5 million people worldwide. So I don't have any clue of what he's talking about." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/JNk2zN66D9
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) December 5, 2021
The chief medical adviser said the country was evaluating its travel bans to eight southern African countries on a “daily basis,” adding he hoped they could be lifted in a “quite reasonable period of time”.
“That ban was done at a time when we were really in the dark - we had no idea what was going on,” he said.
Dr Fauci also called accusations by Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson that he had “overhyped” both Aids and Covid “preposterous”.
“Overhyping Aids? It’s killed over 750,000 Americans and 36 million people worldwide. How do you overhype that?” he said.
“Overhyping Covid? It’s already killed 780,000 Americans and over 5 million people worldwide, so I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about.”
Dr Fauci has served as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, and was one of the leading scientists behind the country’s response to the 1980s Aids epidemic.
Read More
Berlin techno DJs call for protected Unesco status to save club scene
Justin Bieber takes to the stage in Saudi Arabia despite backlash
