(Reuters)

The United States Centers for Disease Control has not yet seen a signal that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more severe in young children despite an increase of the hospitalisations, the agency’s director Dr Rochelle Walensky said at a press conference today.

“We have not yet seen a signal that there is any increased severity” in kids under 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccination, Walensky said. She said that an increase in cases in general could be one explanation for the surge in hospitalisations.

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