The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that the new Omicron variant has been detected in at least 38 countries. Despite this, it also reports that no deaths have yet been attributed to the new Covid-19 variant originally detected in South Africa.
It comes as the UK confirms a further 75 cases of Omicron which the UK Health Security Agency has pointed to as signs of a "small amount" of community infection.
The WHO has warned that it could take weeks to find out more about the variant including how infectious it is as wells as its severity and how effective vaccines and treatment are against it. “We’re going to get the answers that everybody out there needs,” the WHO emergencies director, Michael Ryan, said.