What Do We Know About Omicron The Fastest-Spreading Virus In History?

Table of content

• Why is it called Omicron?
• Where has Omicron spread?
• What are the new Symptoms? 
• How effective is the Vaccine Against Omicron Variant?
• Current studies 

Several Covid-19 variants have spread around the globe; however, A new variant was detected in southern Africa named Omicron. 

Today we will give you a complete guide over what we know about Omicron so far, from its spread to the symptoms, dangers, and the latest studies update, as sourced from the WHO website and guidelines.

Soon after Omicron was first detected in southern Africa, the Variant was highly transmissible.

Since the first cases of Omicron were reported in the UK just over a month ago, it has spread rapidly across the UK, fuelling a surge of infections. But scientists have also been working at speed. Here is an overview of the expanding scientific knowledge of Omicron.

Why is it called Omicron?

WHO started adopting Greek letters for the Covid-variants such as Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron to the latest Variant that started spreading in Southern Africa.

Where has it spread to?

Up until mid-December, Omicron has spread to more than 89 countries around the globe, making it one of the fastest Viruses in history to spread this far.

The very high growth rate of Omicron suggests an increase in transmissibility of the new Variant.

What are the new Symptoms? 

So all the early researches do suggest that the Omicron variant creates kind of mild Covid-19 symptoms, especially for those who took two shots of vaccine, which means that it is not as dangerous as the Delta variant was; however, people who are not vaccinated are at the risk of dying from covid-19 severe symptoms and hospitalization as well. 

Is Omicron more transmissible? Does it cause more severe disease? What are the symptoms and how can you protect yourself? Dr @mvankerkhove explains in #ScienceIn5 this week ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/RKqmgqzYhf

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 17, 2021

How effective is the Vaccine Against Omicron Variant?

The vaccines are less effective against the Omicron Variant with around 80% protection than the old Delta variant. However, the vaccine had more than 95% protection against severe symptoms. Also, a significant number of studies have shown that Omicron can evade immune responses.

• Protection against the Omicron variant after about 20 weeks from the 2nd dose of Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna is around 10% only! Which makes the risk of infection very high then.

Current studies 

Since the spread of this Variant in Africa, there have been some fascinating studies regarding the new Omicron Variant, especially since the symptoms that it causes are very different from its’ previous variants.

• A fascinating study has claimed that it has enough evidence and data that the omicron variant affects the throat, not the lungs hence explaining why it doesn’t have a very high death rate risk, unlike the other variants.
• According to research in South Africa, people infected with Omicron are 80% less likely to go to hospitals because of that infection than other variants of the same virus.
• Scientists did mention that it is still too early to know if the new covid-19 Variant for sure is milder than the previous variants; however, it is essential to note that it has got a very high infection rate which means that people are most likely to stress out the health care systems in the countries in case of a lot of issues that requires hospitalization or ICU. Ventilators to help them in breathing if their lungs get damaged.

The UAE has been reporting a higher number of cases after the Omicron virus has spread to it, which indicates the importance of sticking to the guidelines and compelling to safe practices during those times, as well as receiving a booster shot for immunity, follow us at Uaemoments to get all the latest news and exciting events, life is all about the moments.