By Staff, Agencies “It is so far difficult to determine whether the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus is more transmissible than the earlier Delta strain with which it shares some mutations,” according to Chief Medical Advisor to the US President and the country’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci. "Obviously, when you look at the molecular configuration of those particular variants, it suggests strongly that there is increased transmission compared with the original pandemic virus, but it is difficult to infer what the relationship between this transmissibility and Delta.

Although you can suggest it might be more, we do not know until we see the dynamics of how this evolves," Fauci said on Tuesday during a press briefing.

COVID-19 vaccinations still remain effective at protecting against severe disease, he added.

Preliminary information coming out of South Africa suggests that there are no unusual symptoms associated with the Omicron variant.

The emergence of the Omicron variant has resulted in the implementation of travel restrictions from southern African countries by governments around the world in an effort to slow the spread of the mutated virus strain