The new Omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos in the United States, threatening to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of Delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row.

The White House has insisted there is no need for a lockdown because vaccines are widely available and appear to offer protection against the worst consequences of the virus. But even if Omicron proves milder on the whole than Delta, it may disarm some of the lifesaving tools available and put immune-compromised and elderly people at particular risk as it begins a rapid assault on the US.

“Our Delta surge is ongoing and, in fact, accelerating. And on top of that, we’re going to add an Omicron surge,” said Dr Jacob Lemieux, who monitors variants for a research collaboration led by Harvard Medical School.

“That’s alarming because our hospitals are already filling up. Staff are fatigued,” leaving limited capacity for a potential crush of Covid-19 cases “from an Omicron wave superimposed on a Delta surge”.

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