WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Early data suggests the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is more transmissible than the Delta variant, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday.
Data from early research suggest Omicron has a doubling time of about two days, Walensky said at a White House briefing. There are confirmed cases of the variant in at least 36 states and health officials expect to see the proportion of cases in the United States to continue growing over the coming weeks.
Walensky said officials are starting to see COVID-19 cases increase in fully vaccinated nursing home residents and that residents who have received vaccine booster doses have an infection rate that is 10 times lower.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil, Michael Erman, Jeff Mason; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
