Omicron: all you need to know about the new variant

The new COVID variant Omicron was first detected in South Africa on 9th of November. Currently the number of variant cases seems to be increasing in every province of the country. Positive cases in South Africa increased exponentially from just around 200 new cases per day to more than 1,200 and to over 2,500 a day later. The World Health Organization has now declared this new variant a variant of concern because of its high degree of transmissibility. Before we go on, please make sure you click the subscribe button and turn on the bell button so you can be notified of our new videos. The variant has so far been identified in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and most recently in Australia. Most of those infected with Omicron are double jabbed. Compared to other variants, it appears to be much more contagious and has about 30 mutations in its spike protein compared to Delta with only 13 mutations. Delta has already wreaked havoc around the world. This new variant Omicron seems to be far more contagious. WHO officials said that preliminary evidence suggests Omicron also poses a higher risk of reinfection compared to other variants of concern. However, one good thing to note is that medical professionals are saying that so far Omicron is not too virulent. Professor Schaub, the head of South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccines and a top virologist, says that so far the Omicron variant has only been associated with mild to moderate illness with no reports of death yet, but it is too early to predict its real impact. So far, Australia has closed its borders to non-Australian citizens from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi. Returning citizens who have been those countries or transited through will be required to undergo hotel quarantine for 14 days. Countries in Europe, Japan, Asia, US and UK have all closed borders to arrivals from South Africa. However, some experts, such as Professor Schaub, says that closing borders is not going to help with containing this variant because it probably already pre-existed in some countries but simply not yet detected. Now, as the variant has been identified and sequenced, these countries will now know what to look for so Omicron will come up more often. Now the question that everyone is concerned about is how resistant is Omicron to the current COVID-19 vaccines? Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 at the University of Cambridge, told Channel 9 that the data so far suggests the new variant has mutations consistent with enhanced transmissibility, but she said that the significance of many of the mutations is still not known and it would take several weeks to do the necessary lab tests to determine if current coronavirus vaccines are still effective against the new variant. Dr Ashish Ha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says he does not believe the variant will create a situation where vaccines will be rendered useless. Moderna has already begun making a booster to target Omicron. AstraZeneca also said it was looking to understand the impact Omicron has on its vaccine. Both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are also investigating the impact of the variant on their shot, with data expected within the next couple of weeks. There are still a few positive notes. First, Omicron was detected quite early thanks to the South African authorities. Second, unlike other variants, it can be detected in a PCR test quite quickly. Third, the world is now well prepared in dealing with a pandemic where COVID-safe restrictions can be turned up or down quite readily. And without a doubt, there will be new vaccines and boosters coming out soon to deal with Omicron. So that's all from Snapshot Channel. I hope you enjoyed today's segment. Please subscribe and like and we'll see you next time.