Answering your questions about the omicron variant of the coronavirus

Viruses regularly mutate to form variants. Variants aren’t necessarily more dangerous, but "this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning," the World Health Organization said Friday. "Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant."

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN Sunday that even though there’s nothing yet that indicates omicron makes people more severely ill than previous strains of the virus, "I do think it’s more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa. It has the earmarks therefore of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another."

The variant was first detected by South African scientists, although it’s unclear where it originated. It’s since been detected in several countries in Europe and Asia, Australia and in North America. (Canada reported two cases on Sunday.)

It hasn’t been detected in the United States yet, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not already here, said Dr. John D’Angelo, senior vice president for emergency medicine services at Northwell Health. The highly contagious delta variant, which drove a spike in cases over the past few months, was circulating in the United States before it was detected, he said.

Scientists are studying that now. If they aren’t effective, scientists wouldn’t have to go back to the drawing board, and there would be no need for another lengthy Food and Drug Administration authorization process for a new vaccine, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Medicine. The current messenger RNA vaccines — from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — would just need to be tweaked, she said.

Officials from Pfizer and BioNTech told Reuters that if a new vaccine is necessary, it likely could be shipped in about 100 days.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser said on "Meet the Press" that people should still get vaccinated, saying the vaccines typically "do well against" variants.

Gov. Kathy Hochul Friday cited concerns about omicron — and about already rising COVID-19 caseloads — when she issued an executive order declaring a "disaster emergency" that allows the state Health Department to limit elective procedures in hospitals or hospital systems with "limited capacity."

"While the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming," she said in a news release.

The United States, Canada, the European Union, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran and Thailand and other places restricted or banned travel from southern African countries.

Israel barred all foreigners from entering, and Morocco announced it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks.

The United Kingdom is reinstituting mask mandates for stores and public transport in England, the BBC reported. They’re already required in the rest of the U.K.

Vaccination, said Dr. David Battinelli, a senior vice president at Northwell Health. The fewer people who are vaccinated, the more opportunity there is for mutations to develop and spread, he said.

"If we can’t fight the current strain, what chance do we have against the new strain?" he asked. "We’ve got to get our act together."

With AP