A new “heavily mutated” variant of coronavirus, named B.1.1.529 variant, has raised red-flag across the world. On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed it Omicron and declared it to be a variant of concern.
The classification places Omicron, along with the globally dominant Delta and its weaker rivals Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, in the most worrisome category of Covid-19 variants.
On Friday, nations rushed to ban flights in order to slow the spread of Omicron, while stock markets and oil prices plummeted due to fears about the variant, potentially wreaking havoc
on the global economy.
"Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology... the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern (VOC), named Omicron,"
the UN health agency said.
But, Why’s the variant so scary?
Omicron, detected in Botswana and South Africa, has raised red-flag across the world over an alarmingly huge number of spike mutations that may make the virus more immune to the vaccines,
increase its transmission and result in more severe Covid-19 symptoms.
According to WHO, "this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests that this variant has a higher risk of reinfection than other VOCs."
Healthcare experts have dubbed omicron a "super strain" because it has more than 30 mutations, more than any other variant and twice as many as delta.
According to preliminary studies, the new variant reduces the effectiveness of vaccines by 40%. This is because the spike protein has 32 mutations.
Two of these mutations, R203K and G204R, help the virus replicate faster, according to UK health experts. They claim that three of these mutations - H655Y, N679K, and P681H - make it
easier for it to enter the body's cells. The presence of the last two mutations together, which is unusual, also indicates that omicron is more vaccine-resistant.
Also Read: Key things to know about New Covid variant B.1.1.529 identified in South Africa
Covid booster dose fails
The new strain identified at the start of this week has already reached neighbouring countries where it has infected fully vaccinated people.
Meanwhile, in Israel, a person who had administered the third dose of vaccine, which is called booster dose, was re-infected with the new strain. This suggests that even the booster
shot of the Covid vaccine has little to no impact on Omicron which is highly worrisome.
However, Pfizer and BioNTech promised to develop a new vaccine against the new COVID-19 variant 'Omicron' within 100 days. But health experts are not sure whether their vaccines
would work against it.
In simple words, the world will once again be fighting with Coronavirus (new strain) barehanded.
Situation in India
India has issued an alert for Omicron which the scientists have called a "very unusual constellation" of mutations and directed for rigorous screening of passengers arriving
in India. Travellers would need to take extra precautions upon arrival in India, including post-arrival infection testing.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a letter to all states and UTs, wrote, "This variant is reported to have a significantly high number of mutations, and thus, has serious
public health implications for the country, given recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening up of international travel."
Meanwhile, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has urged “PM to stop flights from those countries which are affected by new variant.”
“With great difficulty, our country has recovered from Corona. We shud do everything possible to prevent this new variant from entering India,” he tweeted.
Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting a meeting on COVID-19 and the country's vaccination situation, which is being attended by top government officials.