Coronavirus live updates: Omicron variant threatens US recovery, global growth

In Melbourne, Catherine Bennett, dean of Deakin University’s department of epidemiology, said a significant new variant did not necessarily mean a worse variant, despite the world’s experience with the delta strain. “If we had something that was more contagious, something that was more contagious than the plains, that had a better record of the virulence or the cause of the disease, that would be one of the mercy of the world. That’s a pity,” she said.