The spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka is around 12 percent, Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) Director Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawa said. He told a press briefing at the HPB headquarters in Colombo on Friday that when considering the number of tested samples and the number of Omicron variants found among those samples, the percentage is around 12 percent. Dr. Batuwanthudawa said that it is the responsibility of all Sri Lankans above 20 to get the booster dose as soon as possible to avoid the Omicron wave hitting Sri Lanka.
Eighty percent of the new Covid-19 infections in the US are Omicron. Although the symptoms and complications of the Omicron variant are not as severe as Delta, the impact Omicron has on people with other health issues such as Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is still not known, he said.