already learned a few moments ago that the first case of the omicron variant has been detected in the u.s. we expect to hear more about this, in fact from dr. fauci in a few minutes. this morning there were 24 countries with the omicron variant, now with the united states it's 25. joining me now with the latest on the omicron front is the world health organization's chief scientist. doctor, i want to start with, like i said, i called it inevitable breaking news. it seems as if now, this variant is not something that can be contained. is that fair to say at this point? >> in the sense that it has already, as you know, been detected in many countries, even before the south africans reported it on the 24th of november, we know now from