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Omicron confirmed in 12 countries, world races to follow it: 10 updates


Omicron confirmed in 12 countries, world races to follow it: 10 updates

Omicron: Variant, first tagged as B.1.1.529, is the latest coronavirus strain discovered (File)

New Delhi:
The world is racing to decode the genome of the Omicron Covid strain and find out how widespread it is. Millions of lives are at stake, and the global economy, is still recovering from the devastation of the Delta variant.

Here are the top 10 points in this big story:

  1. Data at this time suggests Omicron was in good circulation before it was flagged in South Africa last week. The actual cases that were reported in Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium within 72 hours of the variant being identified underscore the (unwelcome) news that there could be many more Omicron cases around the world.

  2. Since its discovery, the Omicron strain has been reported in dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, and Japan. This week, Germany confirmed its first case – a traveler from South Africa – and first Italy – a passenger from Mozambique. This tension could also emerge in the Netherlands, where 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19.

  3. The United States, India and China – the three countries hardest hit by the entire pandemic – have yet to report Omicron cases. International airports across India have begun rigorous screening and screening of incoming passengers, especially those arriving from ‘at-risk’ countries. However, a senior doctor at the government-run ICMR, told NDTV that it is likely that Omicron is already present in the country.

  4. Researchers are still studying whether Omicron – which appears to be able to evade vaccines better than any other strain – causes more deaths and, importantly, if current vaccines provide any cure. any protection. They are also testing to see if Omicron is more transmissible than Delta, which is already highly infectious. WHO proposed this case; it said Omicron poses a “very high” global risk.

  5. In fact, if Omicron is shown to be more transmissible than even Delta, it could lead to a spike in infections and could put pressure on hospitals. And that’s bad news for India, where the existing medical infrastructure is poor and it’s almost impossible to stop the damage caused by the Delta variant.

  6. It may not be all death and gloom, though, with anecdotal evidence from doctors in South Africa suggesting that Omicron may be more contagious but produce milder symptoms than Delta. Adrian Puren, acting head of South Africa’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told Reuters it could take four weeks for experts to better understand symptoms and vaccine avoidance.

  7. As reported by Reuters, most current PCR tests cannot distinguish Omicron from the Delta variant, the dominant and most infectious version to date. To distinguish between them, the test must identify the Omicron mutation – the S gene skipping or failing to target the S gene (SGTF). However, this is not a definitive criterion because the Alpha variant also has that mutation. However, the understanding is that since Alpha is not widely circulated, the presence of SGTF indicates Omicron.

  8. As a result, current Covid tests (PCR and rapid) will still detect Covid infections – as the Indian government told states and UT this week – but it cannot determine the variant with certainty. WHO has recommended the US-made TaqPath test kit, but it is not clear how many countries have invested in it.

  9. The speed with which virologists and other scientists are working to track, sequence and understand the Omicron strain stands in stark contrast to the response to Delta and other variants. For example, it took the WHO months to designate Alpha as a ‘worrying variant’ when it emerged last June, but just days to identify Omicron as a global threat.

  10. The discovery of the Omicron variant and the initial wave of travel bans – the UK, US and other major economies were the first to suspend flights to and from southern Africa – led to chaos. turmoil in the global oil and financial markets amid uncertainty over the potential strain and impact.

With input from AFP, Reuters

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