The omicron variant of covid-19, which emerged in the south of Africa at the end of November, it has now spread to at least 55 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, December 9, they were detected in Britain another 249 infections of the latest variant of covid-19, bringing the total to 819, according to the UK Health Security Agency. The arrival of ómicron forced the government of Boris Johnson to reintroduce social restrictions for the first time since “Freedom Day” on July 19.
In turn, in the United Kingdom, the rate of infections, which was already high but stable, began to rise in the period before the pandemic. Christmas. It is feared that there will be a winter peak similar to that of the 2020 festive season that threatens to overwhelm the NHS (National Health Service of the United Kingdom) once again, which could lead to the need to implement even stricter measures of the “Plan C”.
However, although the omicron variant is believed to be more transmissible than the delta variant, the latter is the dominant one in the United Kingdom. The truth is that more “real world” data is still needed before the extent of the threat it poses can be determined.
What we do know about the variant at this early stage is the following.
The scientists of the United Kingdom first found out on November 23 when samples of South Africa, Botswana Y Hong Kong in a covid-19 monitoring program, although subsequent examination of its genetic sequencing has indicated that it may have emerged in mid-October.
On November 26, the WHO (World Health Organization) declared omicron a “variant of concern”, alarmed by its 32 mutations in the spike protein, suggesting a potential to evade the set of vaccines against covid-19 currently available.
The deputy medical director of England, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, showed the same concern when he told a press conference on November 29: “The number of mutations present, already in principle, makes us worry about a possible effect on the effectiveness of the vaccine.”
One of the difficulties with this variant is that, so far, only a PCR test can determine the specific variant of coronavirus that a patient has contracted, and this process can take up to 14 days because, unlike rapid tests, these must be sent to a laboratory for analysis.
Diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that the symptoms of omicron appear to be mild and that covid-19 already has signs similar to those of the common cold, such as nasal congestion, sore throat and headaches.
But so far, at the time of writing this article (December 10), no deaths have been recorded as a result of infection with the omicron variant, and the ECDC (European Center for Disease Prevention and Control) confirmed this in your last update, in which 402 cases were registered in the European Union and 1,378 more in the rest of the world.
Statistically, however, it may only be a matter of time before that changes.
“There is not yet enough information to make a definitive assessment of the variant, but we learn more every day,” commented for Prevention Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins.
“It’s unclear how ‘deadly’ this variant is, because no deaths have been reported so far, but deaths take time to show up.”
Speaking specifically about the situation in the UK, Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government’s Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), told a Royal Society of Medicine briefing this week that he was confident the UK would see a “pretty big wave of omicrons” and deaths in the coming months and warned that the virus it would continue to evolve to escape immunity.
“We’re getting a lot of cases and that’s going to result in a lot of hospitalizations and unfortunately it’s going to result in a lot of deaths, I’m pretty sure of that,” Professor Edmunds said.
“What happens next? It is quite clear that the virus has not finished with evolution. It will continue to evolve. I thought for a long time that what we will start to see is the virus evolving into an immune escape rather than something necessarily more transmissible.”
The expert called the need for social restrictions, such as those reintroduced by Johnson and other political leaders in Europe Western, as “a necessary evil”. He admitted that they are “very damaging to certain parts of the economy, the hospitality sector, the retail sector in particular”, but insisted: “Unfortunately, we have to do it. The rate at which this virus spreads is doubling every two to three days.”
Professor Edmunds shared the call of the government of the UK for the public to get their booster shots of the vaccine, a move the prime minister hoped would be enough to keep the virus at bay this winter, before the sudden appearance of omicron changed the picture.
That raises questions about the efficacy of our existing vaccines against the new variant.
Results of preliminary studies from the German Center for Infection Research found that there were significant reductions in antibody potency for vaccines Pfizer/BioNTech, Modern Y Oxford/AstraZeneca when they faced omicron.
However, two doses of any one of those vaccines should offer some protection against severe disease according to the WHO, which has said that “current vaccines remain effective against severe disease and death.”
Meanwhile, the manufacturers have promised to work “at full speed” to produce an omicron-specific inoculation and hope to have a version in March 2022.
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