Gottlieb says Omicron variant of COVID-19 "almost definitely" already in U.S.

Washington — Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus reported last week is likely already in the United States, but said the federal government is better positioned to detect cases of the new strain than it was a year ago.

"It's almost definitely here already, just looking at the number of cases coming off planes this weekend. It's almost a certainty that there have been cases that have gotten into the United States," Gottlieb said in an interview with "Face the Nation." "We're in a much better place now than we were a year ago when B.1.1.7 first arrived, or even when Delta first arrived. We are sequencing about a hundred thousand cases a week, which is very good. It's about 20% of all the diagnosed cases. CDC is also going to set up this week a new surveillance system specifically for this variant."