The World Health Organization met on November 26 and decided to list the COVID-19 mutant virus strain B.1.1.529 as a "mutable strain of concern" and named it Omicron.
Is this new variant virus extremely terrible?
This variant has a lot of mutations, which makes scientists worry that it is more spreading and can "break through" the vaccine. On the other hand, South African scholars and health officials argue that no infected person has any abnormal symptoms or patients. As a result, more serious illnesses appear.
Omicron has a lot of variation
Omicron has about 50 mutations, of which there are about 32 mutations in the spike protein, which is twice as much as Delta.
Among these mutations, mutations that usually make the virus more contagious (such as N501Y) and multiple mutations related to increased antibody resistance have caused scientists to worry about Omicron's ability to evade vaccines and its ability to spread.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation) director Oliveira (Tulio de Oliveira) said, “This mutant really surprised us. It has evolutionary features. Great leap, there are more mutations than we expected."
According to the WHO, preliminary evidence shows that Omicron has a higher risk of reinfection than other variants of noteworthy virus strains.
The picture shows the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the WHO Academy in Lyon, France on September 27.
(AP)
Or account for about 90% of newly diagnosed cases in a province of South Africa
Various parties are still tracing how many cases of Omicron infection have occurred in the world. According to the BBC report, most of the confirmed cases are currently concentrated in one province in South Africa, but there are signs that it has spread more widely.
In addition to cases in South Africa and Botswana in Africa, Hong Kong, Israel, and Belgium have found confirmed cases among immigrants.
Reuters reported that South Africa temporarily confirmed that Omicron was detected in 100 sample cases, but scientists believe that in Gauteng province (Gauteng) in South Africa, as many as 90% of newly confirmed cases may be Omicron cases.
The WHO also mentioned that the number of confirmed cases of Omicron seems to have increased in almost all provinces in South Africa.
Omicron variant virus: The picture shows the passengers who have boarded the KLM flight number 598 on November 26, 2021, because the passenger plane failed to depart from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and need to continue to wait.
Passengers were required to undergo specific tests, which caused the passenger plane to be delayed for 4 hours to take off.
(AP)
"Good news": easy to detect
Many places around the world are eagerly waiting for the new variant virus, pushing measures to ban the entry of South African flights and ban passengers from multiple countries in Africa. This is because all parties know little about the Omicron variant and are uncertain about its danger. However, according to South African scholars There is also "good news" when dealing with Omicron, including that this mutant virus strain can be detected by a special PCR method, and the laboratory responsible for diagnosis can quickly confirm whether it is Omicron without having to analyze the entire virus gene sequence.
South African scholar: No abnormal symptoms
The Wall Street Journal reported that according to South African scientists and health officials, no confirmed patients with Omicron have symptoms that are different from those infected with other virus strains, and there is no indication that Omicron will cause more serious illnesses in the body.
The President of the South African Medical Association, Angelique Coetzee, told the Guardian that everything at this stage is speculation and that the new variants may be highly contagious. I will have different opinions in the next week, but this is what we see now. Are we worried? No, we are concerned, we are observing what is happening.”
The WHO said that it is temporarily unknown whether the new variant virus strain will cause more serious diseases.
Will new vaccines be needed?
There is still no clear answer.
However, after the WHO named the new variant virus Omicron, many major international pharmaceutical companies have expressed their opinions separately. For example, Novavax said that the second phase of the vaccine test convinced them that its vaccine is likely to be effective. The new variant virus is effective.
BioNTech said it will collect more data to evaluate whether the vaccine it develops is effective for Omicron.
South Africa's new crown pneumonia epidemic: The picture shows a woman vaccinated with Pfizer near Johannesburg on October 21, 2021.
The province of Johannesburg, Houten, has a new variant virus Omicron that is spreading rapidly.
(AP)
Scientists: I believe that the vaccine effect will not return to zero
Foster.
Jesse Bloom, an infectious disease scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said that he expects that the mutations in the new variant will not completely escape or offset the neutralization caused by recovery and vaccination. Antibodies, that is, the effect of vaccines will not return to zero.
Penn State University (Penn State University) infectious disease scholar (David Kennedy) also believes that historically, vaccination will not be significantly damaged by the evolution of viruses. He said that on the issue of Omicron, the key factor will be vaccination. Whether there is a significant increase in the number of people who are still severely infected.
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