Harianjogja.com, JAKARTA – A preprint study published in medRxiv showed Omicron was able to infect cells more quickly and easily which is in line with early research showing that Omicron spike protein is more effective at entering human cells than Delta spike protein or the original coronavirus.
However, researcher Wilfredo Garcia-Beltran said there was a surprising finding: Omicron was found to be four times more infectious than the original coronavirus, and twice as contagious as the Delta variant. This was reported by Express, Tuesday (12/28/2021).
Meanwhile, colleagues at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital warned that Omicron was more infectious than the other variants tested.
NIH Director Anthony Fauci also described the same thing. The White House medical adviser said Omicron surpassed even the most infectious variants previously, including Delta.
Seeing how fast it is spreading, Fauci is worried that health facilities will be overwhelmed by the spike in cases. This is especially true in areas where there is a larger proportion of unvaccinated individuals.
Although Omicron ‘apparently’ causes milder infections, its high transmission rate is still very worrying.
Because the virus can spread faster, more people who are at risk of being infected with the virus get sick at the same time, which can certainly overwhelm health workers.
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As previously reported, the Ministry of Health’s Vaccination Spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, announced the findings of the first case of local transmission of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
With this additional case, the total confirmed cases of Omicron in Indonesia are 47 cases since it was first reported on December 16, of which 46 cases are imported cases and 1 case is local transmission.
Source: JIBI/Bisnis.com
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