An advisory panel of the World Health Organization classified a new COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa as a highly transmissible virus of concern and named it ``omicron'' under its Greek-letter system.

The announcement Friday from the United Nations health agency marks the first time in months that WHO has classified a COVID-19 variant as such. The delta variant, which has become the world's most prevalent, is in the same category.

Source: The Economic Times