“Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
The overall global risk related to the new variant…is assessed as very high… Increasing cases, regardless of a change in severity, may pose overwhelming demands on health care systems and may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The impact on vulnerable populations would be substantial, particularly in countries with low vaccination coverage.
An announcement from South Africa on Thursday, followed by a WHO meeting Friday, alerted the world to the presence of a new COVID-19 variant of concern.
Genomic testing has led to the Omicron variant’s being identified in Australia, Belgium, Botswana (first sample, 11 November 2021), Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic (CNN), the Netherlands, Scotland (Guardian) and South Africa (14 November 2021).
The Netherlands reported 13 Omicron cases on Sunday. Australia now has five; Canada, two; and Scotland, six.
According to Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton (UK), the variant “probably emerged in another country… where there’s not a huge amount of genomic surveillance going on and vaccination rate is low.” South Africa “has very, very good genomic sequencing capacity and capability.”
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