{"id":143432,"date":"2021-12-15T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=143432"},"modified":"2021-12-15T10:00:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T14:00:01","slug":"omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\n
\n

BBC:<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to detect it.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Dr Tedros said he was concerned that not enough was being done to tackle the variant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cSurely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

The WHO\u2019s latest data suggests the variant \u2013 first detected in South Africa in November \u2013 can better evade existing vaccines and carries a higher risk of re-infection, leading the organisation to say the level of risk remains very high.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC: The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries. But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":143433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"yoast_head":"\nOmicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BBC: The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries. But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\"},\"wordCount\":154,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Regional\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\",\"name\":\"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg\",\"width\":810,\"height\":456},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says","og_description":"BBC: The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries. But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":810,"height":456,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says","datePublished":"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/"},"wordCount":154,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg","articleSection":["Regional"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/","name":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-15T14:00:01+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:810\/h:456\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Omicron-v.jpeg","width":810,"height":456},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/omicron-spreading-at-unprecedented-rate-who-says\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/143433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}