(Reuters) -The World Health Organization doesn’t have sufficient data to determine if the Omicron coronavirus variant is worse than the Delta, an official stated Wednesday. This was almost a month since South Africa raised concerns about it.

Maria van Kerkhove (WHO’s technical leader on COVID-19), stated that there are some statistics suggesting lower rates of hospitalisation in briefing with the media.

However, she warned against drawing too many conclusions from these early data. “We have not seen this variation circulate in sufficient numbers in populations across the globe. This is especially true for vulnerable populations.”

The data regarding the new variant of the virus, which was first discovered in Africa and Hong Kong last November, were still unclear as many countries have reported their arrivals and spreading.

“We asked people to be more cautious than we were asking them to, that countries be extra cautious and think carefully, especially with the holidays approaching.

On Wednesday, a South African study found that Omicron infected individuals were much less likely to go to hospital than Delta infected patients. The authors did not mention how this might be due to Delta’s high immunity.

Tedros Adhanom, the WHO’s head, called for countries to take lessons from last year’s pandemic and call for more vaccine equity in order to end a deadly pandemic which has claimed the lives of over 5.6million people.

We must learn from the lessons of this past year as we move into the New Year. “2022 must mark the end to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” he stated.