Africa accounts for 46 percent of reported cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 globally, according to a statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.

"Africa currently accounts for 46% of the nearly 1,000 Omicron cases reported by 57 countries across different regions of the world. So far, 10 African countries have reported cases," read the statement.

The newly detected variant is reaching more countries in the continent and weekly COVID-19 cases in Africa have surged by 93 percent – more than 107, 000 cases in the week ending on December 5, up from around 55,000.

But the WHO said preliminary data have indicated that hospitalizations related to Omicron across South Africa remain low.

"Emerging data from South Africa indicates that Omicron may cause less severe illness. Data which looked at hospitalizations across South Africa between November 14 and December 4 found that ICU occupancy was only 6.3 percent," the statement continued.