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WHO calls new Covid strain Omicron: UN health chiefs label super-mutant a 'variant of concern' with increased risk of reinfection that could spread more rapidly than Delta The World Health Organisation has named the recently-discovered B.1.1.529 strain of Covid-19 Omicron and labelled it a 'variant of concern'. UN health chiefs warned that preliminary evidence suggests the strain has an increased risk of reinfection and could spread more rapidly than the Delta variant. ADVERTISEMENT 'Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology... the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern, named Omicron,' the UN health agency said in a statement. The Omicron variant has more than 30 mutations — the most ever recorded in a variant and twice as many as Delta — meaning it could be more jab-resistant and transmissible that any version before it. Health Secretary Sajid J...