The World Health Organization on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus as a “variant of concern” and named it “Omicron”...
The World Health Organization on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus as a “variant of concern” and named it “Omicron”.
A “variant of concern” has the highest threat perception among other coronavirus variants because of its increased transmissibility, infectivity, or resistance to vaccines. The threat perception for a “variant of interest” is comparatively lower.
“This variant [B.1.1.529] has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning,” the global health body said. “Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs [variants of concern].”
The number of cases of the Omicron variant appeared to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa, the WHO said.
The global health body asked countries to “enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants”. It also asked governments to “submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database”.
The WHO urged countries to report the first cases or clusters linked to the Omicron variant. It also added that field investigations and laboratory analysis should be conducted “where capacity exists and in coordination with the international community”.
The world body appealed to the public to take steps to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 and follow all protocol, including...
