Dr. Fauci says he "would not be surprised" if new COVID variant is already in U.S.

As nations around the world try to contain the spread of Omicron, a newly discovered COVID-19 variant of concern, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he "would not be surprised" if the variant has already made its way into the United States. 

"When you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Saturday on NBC's Weekend TODAY.

The Omicron variant first appeared in a specimen collected on November 9, and was reported from South Africa to the World Health Organization on Wednesday, the agency said. As of Friday, fewer than 100 cases of the strain had been confirmed, with many of them being young people in South Africa.