Europe's medicine agency says Omicron cases appear mild, echoing the US CDC

• Known cases of the Omicron variant appear to be mild, Europe's medicines agency said.
• The US CDC also said this week that most cases identified seem to be resulting in mild symptoms.

Europe's medicines agency said on Thursday that reported cases of the Omicron virus variant so far appear mild.

It hedged its announcement, saying that more work was being done to figure out how the variant impacts people.

Marco Cavaleri, the European Medicines Agency's head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy, said "Cases appear to be mostly mild, however we need to gather more evidence to determine whether the spectrum of disease severity caused by Omicron is different [to] that of all the variants that have been circulating so far."

His remarks were reported by the French news agency Agence France-Presse.

He also said that data suggested Omicron is more contagious than the Delta variant, but that more research needs to be done to confirm if this is the case.

The EMA's finding echo those from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky told the Associated Press that most of the 43 known Omicron cases in the US resulted in mild symptoms, including coughing and fatigue.

One person has been hospitalized with the Omicron variant, she said.

The CDC also noted that most of the 43 people were vaccinated, which would mean they are more likely to experience a milder symptoms, as Insider's Marianne Guenot reported.