Will it end up dethroning the Delta variant, the majority in the world since this summer?
The Omicron variant could in any case become the majority in Europe and this "in the next few months", according to projections published on Thursday by the European Union agency responsible for diseases.
According to the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), "preliminary data suggests a substantial advantage" of the new variant over the hitherto dominant Delta variant.
Based on these mathematical models, "Omicron could cause more than half of infections caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the European Union within the next few months," the agency said in a statement.
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United States, France, South Africa… The first cases of the Omicron variant are gradually appearing in a large number of countries.
After Reunion on Tuesday, France is now affected in metropolitan France.
The contamination of an inhabitant of Seine-et-Marne could even have existed before this Reunionese case.
While health teams are working, in France and around the world, to identify the contact cases of each patient confirmed to be contaminated with the Omicron variant, the hunt for patient zero is also continuing.
Too early to know the impact of the variant
Many uncertainties still exist and the speed at which Omicron could become the majority will depend on the extent of the advantage of the new variant over the previous ones as well as the extent of Covid-19 infections, underlines the ECDC.
If it has caused a wave of panic to blow across the world, it is too early to say what impact this variant will have on the pandemic, experts agree.
So far, 79 confirmed cases have been reported in October, including 20 since Wednesday, the ECDC said.
These cases are found in 15 European countries.
The Netherlands (16 cases), Portugal (14 cases) and Germany (10 cases) are the hardest hit so far.
Epidemiological update for 2/12 on the #Omicron variant: Since 1/12, 20 additional SARS-CoV-2 Omicron cases have been confirmed, bringing the total to 79 confirmed cases.
Cases have been reported by 15 EU / EEA countries, per public sources.
More info: https://t.co/XBiu7wAhxp
- ECDC Outbreaks (@ECDC_Outbreaks) December 2, 2021
Named after the Greek letter Omicron by the WHO, the variant was first reported in Botswana before being detected in South Africa, which announced it on November 25.
The day after this announcement, the new variant was classified as "worrying" by the WHO.
While many fears remain theoretical for the time being, it has a number of mutations unprecedented from a genetic point of view, including around thirty in the spike protein, the key to the entry of the virus into the body.
