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What is known about omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus
First identified in South Africa, it has been listed by the WHO as worrying
With the advance in vaccination against Covid-19, and the relaxation that the governments of the world had been taking, everything seemed to indicate that the end of the pandemic was just around the corner, however, the appearance of a new variant of the virus, the omicron, cataloged as "worrisome" by the World Health Organization (WHO) seems to overshadow the idea of a near normality.
The first thing that is known so far about this mutation of the deadly virus that began its spread at the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China, is that it has been identified as B.1.1.529, and that it was detected for the first time in South Africa.
Furthermore, the South African authorities have reported that the variant is potentially more transmissible due to its high number of mutations; hence the concern on the part of the WHO, since the new strain could create an immune evasion. However, we must wait for the studies carried out by scientists on the efficacy of the vaccine against this new mutation.
But it is not only South Africa where cases of the omicron have been reported, also in Botswana, Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium cases of patients with the new variant have been reported.
Omicron vs. Other variants
Now, what makes this variant different from the previous ones is that it has 50 mutations in the key protein of the virus spike, which has been classified as unusual.
This statement was made by virologist Lawrence Young, who is also a professor of molecular oncology at the Warwick School of Medicine in the United Kingdom, through a statement, where he also points out that although the new variant has changes that have been recorded in the Previously, in the case of omicron, all these changes are evidenced together, in addition to novel mutations.
What worries the experts is that the new variant has a high number of changes in the spike protein, which is the one that most of the vaccines, created so far, seek to attack; Faced with these mutations in the peak protein, there is a fear that the virus will escape the immunity generated by the previously discovered variants.
All this has caused the countries of the world to impose new restrictions, even some governments are not allowing the entry of passengers from certain countries in Southern Africa, since the omicron is highly contagious and spreads rapidly.
It is expected that in the following weeks they will put pressure on the health system, and authorities in the scientific world are already calling on people to avoid participating in massive events.
Although the effectiveness of vaccines on the new variant is not yet known, immunization remains the recommendation of health authorities to prevent the spread of the virus.
To date, cases of the variant have been reported in South Africa, the country where the first case was identified, although its origin is probably not there, patients have also been treated in Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel and Botswana.
Actions to mitigate contagions
To prevent the global spike in COVID-19 cases, countries such as the United States, Brazil, Austria, France, Italy, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Malta, the Netherlands, Malaysia, the Philippines, Jordan, Morocco and Dubai have imposed flight restrictions.
Germany for its part declared South Africa as "an area of variant of virus", and established that from this Friday at night, only flights from South Africa will be allowed to repatriate German citizens.
Germany's action, according to its authorities, is because they want to act proactively and early to avoid further problems due to a new variant.
In the case of Asian countries such as Singapore and Japan, the restrictions imposed from this Friday consist of subjecting travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho to a 10-day quarantine.
AstraZeneca and BioNTech take a step forward
As I already mentioned, so far it is not known if current vaccines can generate the antibodies to combat the new variant, however, AztraZeneca, a vaccine manufacturer, has taken a step forward in this task, and has begun to test its formula against omicron…
The company has indicated through a statement that the platform they used to create their vaccine allows them to respond immediately to new variants.
Likewise, he has indicated that they carry out investigations in nations such as Botswana and Eswatini, where cases have been identified, so they are sure that this will allow them to collect data on their immunization against omicron.
The BioNTech company has also begun investigations of the impact of the variant in its vaccine, and they expect to have results in two weeks.
