WHO Declares Omicron a COVID-19 ‘Variant of Concern’ — What We Know

The first confirmed case with Omicron

The first confirmed COVID-19 case with the Omicron variant — identified as B.1.1.529 — dates to Nov. 11 in Botswana.

Meanwhile, South African https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?members/kriton-romy.98833/ scientists detected a small number of the variant in samples collected between Nov. 14-16, prompting them to report their findings to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Nov. 24.

On Nov. 26Trusted Source, the WHO https://forums.anandtech.com/members/dermocare-combo-pack.475180/#about declared Omicron a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern.

As of Nov. 29, 15 countries have reported cases https://dermocarecombopack.blog2learn.com/53176418/https-www-testo-ultra-in-dermocare-combo-pack-price-in-india with the Omicron variant, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, and Hong Kong.

According to media reports, there are now about https://forum.tracerplus.com/members/dermocare-combo-pack.7841/#about 100 confirmed cases with the Omicron variant in South Africa.

Omicron may be responsible for close to 90 percent https://forum.thegradcafe.com/profile/335515-dermocare-combo-pack/?tab=field_core_pfield_13 of new COVID-19 cases in Gauteng province, which includes Pretoria and Johannesburg. The rate suggests that Omicron may have overtaken Delta in that area.

COVID-19 infections rose sharply in South Africa https://xenforo.com/community/threads/https-www-testo-ultra-in-dermocare-combo-pack-price-in-india.200781/ over the past 7 days to reach 2,465 daily cases last week, recording a more than 90 percent increase from Nov. 24 to Nov. 25. However, not all have been confirmed to be infections with the Omicron variant.

Spike protein mutations concerning experts

The variant has an unprecedented 32 mutations http://forums.unigame.me/member/1080220-ug915200/about on its spike protein, which is double the amount of Delta. It also has 10 mutations on the receptor-binding domain (RBD).

All viruses go through mutations, some of which https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/profile/2620615-dermocare-combo-pack/?tab=field_core_pfield_13 can change the virus’ ability to spread, the severity of disease it causes, and affect the performance of vaccines.

The mutations detected in Omicron will change the https://mc-drugs.com/members/dermocare-combo-pack.25377/#about shape of spike protein, which was the vaccines’ primary target. This could make the virus less recognizable to antibodies, and as a result, help it evade our immune defenses to cause infection.

More time needed to assess infectiousness

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African https://toucharcade.com/community/members/kriton-romy.513090/ Medical Association, first spotted the Omicron variant in the country. She said the symptoms seemed mild so far.

“Currently, there is no reason for panicking, as https://www.razorbackreef.com/index.php?members/kriton-romy.1859/ we don’t see severely ill patients,” she said.

However, early studies indicate that the Omicron variant has a reproduction (R) rate of 2 — which means every person who acquires it is likely to spread it to two others, which possibly makes it more infectious than Delta.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, MPH, a professor of medicine https://peatix.com/group/11636567/view at the University of California San Francisco, underscored that concerns with the Lambda, Mu, Delta plus, and other variants were all assumed to be “more transmissible than Delta when they were first identified, but none were able to outcompete Delta.”

Because only 24 percent of the population is fully https://form.jotform.com/kembluee01/dermocare-combo-pack vaccinated in South Africa, it’s difficult to tell whether Omicron is outcompeting Delta as there is not a lot of immunity yet, Gandhi said.

The rise in COVID-19 cases in South Africa has https://dermocarecombopack.tumblr.com/post/669257463644749824/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin-rejuvenation coincided with the emergence of Omicron as well as the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere. This is not what experts would have expected, which could mean the variant is more transmissible.

But the consensus, so far, is that we will have to wait and see.

Omicron’s resistance to vaccines is not yet known

An exceptionally large number of mutations https://www.fuzia.com/article_detail/306302/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin-rejuvenation-formula could blunt the vaccines’ response to the Omicron variant, but scientists believe vaccines will still provide sufficient protection against severe disease and death.

“The question about escaping immunity is emerging https://about.me/kembluee from the variant having more than 30 mutations across the spike protein, but there are some reassuring data from South Africa in this regard that Omicron-related disease is occurring among the unvaccinated,” said Gandhi.

The current data from the Chris Hani Baragwanath https://works.bepress.com/dermocare-combo-pack/ Hospital shows that 65 percent of the patients were unvaccinated, and 35 percent were partially vaccinated.

Professor Rudo Mathivha, an ICU doctor at the hospital, also noted https://site-6257720-469-3224.mystrikingly.com/blog/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin-rejuvenation-formula an increase in younger patients in their 20s and 30s hospitalized, which could be a trend to watch out for.

Gandhi said it was easy to see parallels with previous variants when it comes to hospitalization: “A variant causing disease among the unvaccinated is the same pattern that was seen with Delta.”

The fact that only 24 percent of South Africa is fully https://in.pinterest.com/pin/947937421538558431/ vaccinated also supports this.

We don’t know what will happen when it hits a highly https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/143514802-kem-bluee vaccinated country such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, or Germany, for example, Dr. John Campbell, a retired nurse teacher and A and E nurse based in England, said during an online presentation.

Vaccine manufacturers are testing out tweaks

The four major manufacturers of vaccines — Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, and Moderna — are quite readily able to tweak their vaccines.

Both Pfizer and Moderna previously worked on an updated formula of their COVID-19 vaccines against the Beta variant. Still, they saw that there was no need as the current formulation provided robust protection.

Pfizer now has said it needs 2 weeks at most to assess how well its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine works against the Omicron variant. The company also said it could produce and ship the tweaked version within 100 days.

Moderna has also announced that it is working on an Omicron-specific booster.

Gandhi expressed hope that the existing formulas of the current vaccines would still provide good protection against severe disease.

“Existing formulations should be able https://www.pressnews.biz/@kembluee/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin-rejuvenation-formula-e63mk7j5w3d4 to protect against severe outcomes since B cells, produced by the vaccines, can produce antibodies directed against the variant they see if they see a variant in the future,” says Gandhi.

“[T] cell immunity across the spike protein is [also] very robust so,” she continues. “It should not be knocked out entirely by 30-33 mutations, and the vaccines produce polyclonal antibodies that work against multiple parts of the spike protein. I am hopeful https://foursquare.com/user/1380146110/list/dermocare-combo-pack-an-advanced-skin-formula that we will still have protection against severe disease with vaccinations as seems to be occurring in South Africa,” she further explained.

Vaccines still the best tool against Omicron

Although some scientists agree border restrictions could stifle the spread of a variant if imposed early, others believe it is often too late for such measures to work.

“Once a virus has been found in multiple countries, https://www.behance.net/gallery/132269949/Dermocare-Combo-Pack-An-Advanced-Skin-Formula like the Omicron variant, travel restrictions are unlikely to be helpful. A highly transmissible respiratory virus is not usually stopped by border restrictions,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi maintains that widespread vaccination would be the most helpful tool to prevent new variants and help stop Omicron.

She said that with the Delta variant, a high number of cases did not translate to an increased number of hospitalizations in areas with high vaccination coverage, such as San Francisco.Other treatments against Omicron

Studies have shown that therapeutic antivirals such as molnupiravir or Paxlovid are still effective against variants with mutations in the spike protein.

Gandhi explained:

“The ‘variants’ of SARS-CoV-2 develop mutations along the spike protein because that is the protein that interfaces with the host cell. The protein that links a virus to the host cell is always heavily subject to mutations, like the H and N spike proteins of the influenza virus.”

She noted that such mutations were not concerning for antiviral therapeutics as their working mechanism differed from vaccines.

The bottom line

The Omicron variant is an international concern, but for now, it is no more than that.

Because of widespread measures and vaccines, it is not possible for the world to go back to square one as it was in March 2020.

But as with all infectious diseases, it pays to https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/health/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin-rejuvenation-formula be cautious as scientists keep a close eye on the new variant.

The variant initially appears to be more transmissible, and it likely is not causing severe disease, but there is no good data to confirm this.

Scientists need more time to assess all areas https://dermocare-combo-pack-price-in-india.blogspot.com/2021/11/dermocare-combo-pack-advanced-skin.html of risk with the new variant.