Omicron has extraordinary transmissibility – Fauci

United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the Omicron COVID-19 variant has an “extraordinary capability of spreading… it is just raging through the world.” He said the disease caused by the variant could be less severe, but cautioned that the sheer number of cases could overwhelm hospitals.

“Our hospitals, if things look like they’re looking now, are going to be very stressed with people, because again we have so many people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, and that’s going to be a real problem for the stress on the hospital system,” Fauci said in an NBC interview.