The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist on Friday urged people not to panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if Covid-19 vaccines would have to be modified to fight it.

Speaking in an interview at the Reuters Next conference, Soumya Swaminathan also said it was impossible to predict if Omicron would become the dominant strain.

Omicron has gained a foothold in...