Recently, the new crown "B.1.1.529" variant virus strain that appeared in South Africa and other countries has attracted global attention.
Last week, the WHO listed it as a "variants of concern" and officially named it "Omicron."
According to the WHO's official website, there are a large number of mutations in the Omicron variant, which preliminarily indicates that it may bypass the existing immunity and cause re-infection.
As of this Monday (November 29), a total of three Omicron imported cases have also been recorded in Hong Kong, which has sounded the alarm for local epidemic prevention.
Omicron recalls the Delta variant virus strain discovered earlier this year.
Although it is not possible to accurately assess the lethality of the virus at this stage, many countries have responded urgently and made special entry and exit arrangements for South Africa and nearby countries to prevent the spread of the variant.
The rapid global spread of the new crown virus in the past two years has not yet subsided. The emergence of a lethal variant is actually unexpected.
The appearance of Omicorn reminds us that it is not yet time to "coexist with the virus" at this stage.
The picture shows a newspaper stall in Pretoria, South Africa, on November 27. The boss is showing the front page of the new crown pneumonia variant virus that day.
(AP)
Virus variants are developed faster than vaccines
As many as 261 million cases of the new coronavirus have been diagnosed globally so far, and there are a total of 13 major variant virus strains up to Omicron (Nu and Xi are skipped when naming them), with Delta being the most lethal and spreading variant.
According to research, Delta's R0 value (basic infection number) is 8 to 9 people, while the original Alpha has only 2 to 3 people. Delta has a transmission power that is 40 to 60% higher than Alpha.
The new coronavirus that is still circulating around the world is also mainly a variant of Delta.
The new coronavirus is not like the smallpox virus. It is a highly variable and highly contagious virus. The more it spreads, the higher the possibility of its mutation.
When the virus is still in a global pandemic, it is quite possible to appear a new variant that is comparable to Delta and can bypass the existing immunity.
Therefore, regardless of whether Omicron is sufficient to cause high damage, as long as the new crown is still pandemic in different parts of the world, there is still a chance that new super variants will appear.
Although there are only 24 Greek letters, the virus does not recognize Greek letters and will not stop variants in Omega.
Vaccines are effective against viruses, but there are many problems with vaccines against hypervariable viruses.
It is not easy for the vaccine to catch up with the virus variants, but it is even more difficult than the research difficulties to quickly and widely vaccinate the world's 7.8 billion people.
To this day, the vaccination rate among countries is still extremely uneven.
The vaccination rate in advanced countries can be as high as 70%, and some have even begun to receive booster doses. However, the overall vaccination rate in Africa where Omicron has occurred is less than 6%.
Many countries around the world are advancing vaccination plans, and in Omicron's view, the governments of many countries need to race against time even more.
The picture shows a high school student being vaccinated against the new crown pneumonia in a school in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, on November 26, 2021.
(AP)
Now the global vaccine does not have enough productivity and a unified distribution force, but while imagining that the new crown virus will not have the threat of new variants and gradually calm down, it is as naive and innocent as a child who fails the test but hopes not to be discovered by his family. optimism.
Hong Kong should still focus on epidemic prevention
Of course, Hong Kong does not have the power to solve global problems, but at least we should understand more deeply that now is not the time to relax epidemic prevention.
It has been nearly two years since the virus pandemic, and many people have begun to talk about the possibility of "coexisting with the virus."
However, Omicron reminds us again that virus variants still pose a big threat, and choosing to coexist with the virus easily may eventually lead to loss of life and economy.
Examples from Western countries have shown that advanced countries such as the United States have also caused nearly 48 million infections and up to 770,000 deaths. The pandemic has severely affected consumption and work desire. Economists believe that the epidemic is destroying the operation of the industrial chain and pushing up. The culprit of inflation.
China, which was the first to strictly block and successfully control the spread, is the best performing country among the major economies, and it also illustrates the benefits of controlling the virus with facts.
In the past few days, the epidemic in Hong Kong seemed to be generally flat, and international worries about the new crown pandemic seemed to begin to fade, causing many people to relax and even feel dissatisfied with the epidemic prevention policy.
However, numbness to the virus threat is quite dangerous.
In the summer of last year, the epidemic situation also improved. Many people thought that they could be relieved. But soon after the winter, Delta broke out globally, and Hong Kong was also affected.
Now that we are preparing for the winter, Omicron has not yet entered Hong Kong and has spread on a large scale, but its emergence is worthy of vigilance.
With the emergence of cases of the new variant virus "B.1.1.529", the new crown epidemic that has stabilized in Hong Kong has added additional worries.
(Profile picture)
This also means that the government’s recent anti-epidemic policies are necessary, including expanding the application range of the "Travel with peace of mind" mobile app, continuing to urge people who have not been vaccinated, and starting to vaccinate high-risk people with the third dose of "grain needles." Policies, and tightening of entry isolation conditions.
Strict epidemic prevention is not just for customs clearance with the mainland, but also to keep Hong Kong from the threat of viruses.
Before we actually see the end of the tunnel, we should all actively cooperate with scientific methods to strictly prevent the epidemic, and should not allow the virus to enter the Hong Kong community.
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