Omicron 'raging through the world,' traveling increases risk: Dr Fauci

Washington, Dec 19: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert said Sunday the Omicron variant of coronavirus is "raging through the world" and urged Americans to continue wearing masks and get a vaccine booster dose.

In an interview with NBC's 'Meet the Press', Fauci said the new variant of concern has the extraordinary capability of spreading, adding that the United States is going to see breakthrough infections.

"We are going to see breakthrough infection - there is no doubt about that," Dr Fauci said.

The American top expert, however, ruled out the possibility of complete lockdown.

"I don't foresee the kind of lockdowns that we've seen before but I certainly see the potential for stress on our hospital system," he said in a separate interview with ABC's "This Week."

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, the World Health Organisation has said. It is unclear if this is due to immune evasion, transmissibility or a combination of both the WHO said.

The health body also said that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than Delta in countries documented community transmission, with a doubling time 1.5-3 days.