California now has reported nine omicron cases in all, though public health officials said they expect to find many more in the coming weeks.

Stealth version of omicron evades routine tests: Scientists have identified a “stealth” version of the omicron variant that cant’ be detected with the routine tests that public health officials are using to track its global spread, the Guardian is reporting.

Researchers say it is too early to know whether the new form of omicron will spread in the same way as the initial omicron variant, but that the “stealthy” version is genetically distinct and so may well behave differently.

1 problem despite wastewater showing omicron: Public health officials emphasized Tuesday that the delta variant of the coronavirus remains the biggest threat now, even though the omicron variant has been detected in wastewater in Sacramento and Merced counties.

Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UCSF, tweeted on Tuesday that even as he hoped that the omicron variant will be less severe than the delta strain of the coronavirus — as preliminary data may indicate — “if Omicron is somewhat less severe but far more transmissible, that’ll still be nasty.” Wachter also noted that the delta variant “remains the major threat & it’s killing >1000 in U.S./day.”.

Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, said Tuesday that there are now 10 confirmed omicron COVID cases in California and that traces of the variant have also been detected in wastewater samples in Sacramento and Merced counties.

COVID cases rising quickly in Marin: Cases in the highly vaccinated county have more than doubled since Thanksgiving.

Uganda is 9th African country to confirm omicron cases: Uganda, in East Africa, reported its first seven cases of the omicron coronavirus strain on Tuesday.

The variant was detected in travelers arriving from South Africa and Nigeria, and all had mild symptoms, officials said.

South Africa remains the epicenter of the omicron outbreak, with experts saying that the overwhelming majority of its thousands of new cases per day are of the new variant.

Very early data in South Africa hospital shows comparatively few omicron ICU admissions: Intensive care admissions for patients sick with the omicron variant of the coronavirus in a hospital complex near Pretoria numbered 2 out of more than 160 patients, a lower ICU rate than for earlier waves of coronavirus, a report this week from the South Africa Medical Research Council states; the report includes a caveat that this was data just for the first two weeks of the outbreak, Nov.

Fast spread of omicron could lead to new mutations, warns Pfizer CEO: Even though early reports suggest the omicron variant may lead to milder illness than other coronavirus variants, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday warned that because of its high transmissiblity, it could lead to more trouble in the future.

It’s emblematic of a broader problem across the Bay Area, as health officials urge people to get boosters as well as first and second shots, but many sites are booked up, partly due to insufficient staff.

But nothing about omicron yet warrants changes to behavior outdoors, health experts say

Two omicron cases reported Monday in Los Angeles County: Los Angeles County health officials announced Monday they had identified two new cases of the coronavirus omicron variant

health officials said

Delta still drives the coronavirus case increases: With at least 30 cases of the highly mutated omicron variant now identified in the United States — including two new cases reported in Los Angeles County on Monday — health experts can’t yet say whether it will pose a bigger threat than the delta strain, which is still driving the national coronavirus pandemic

CDC underscores holiday testing and quarantine rules for air travel: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday re-emphasized, amid concerns over the new omicron coronavirus variant, that international travelers arriving in the United States now must be tested for the coronavirus no more than one day before they travel and show proof of negative results to the airline