Omicron Variant: What Do We Know So Far — Updated

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An emerging covid-19 variant has been identified as a Virus of Concern by the World Health Organization.

1. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was recovered from a specimen on November 9, 2021. On November 24, 2021 the World Health Organization announced the variant officially.
2. As of 12/1/21 the virus has now reached the West Coast of the United States Officially
3. The point of origin is thought to be South Africa, after spikes in new cases were tracked. The theoretical third wave of exponential case rise in South Africa is now identified as related to the Omicron variant.
4. This developed in an area with a low vaccination rate, which tends to create a safe haven for natural variant development. South Africa’s vaccination rate is approximately 24% of their total population
5. Omicron is potentially more transmissible than previous variants and has a high number of mutations. This generally means that the spike protein typing we use to create vaccines and control measures are unusual in this variant.
6. Because of the key mutations, the vaccines will have to be readdressed to cover this variant, with new typing included in their build. However, this does not render current vaccines unhelpful, there is still a large margin of effectiveness.
7. As of 0800 EST, November 29, 2021 — omicron is now detected in North America for the first time since it’s discovery. 2 Canadians have tested positive.
8. Symptoms are similar to other strains of Covid-19. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, has reported the symptoms to be mild. However, it is too early to tell and the patient range that this assumption was made off of was inadequate for collective assumptions. The patient group she determined this from initially was also not reflective of global population — she alerted officials after surveying mostly males under 40 years of age with symptoms of infectious disease that were slightly different than traditional Covid-19 symptoms.
9. The following countries have confirmed Omicron cases:

North America

• Canada

Europe

• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• England
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Portugal
• Scotland
• Switzerland (probable case)

Africa

• Botswana
• South Africa

Middle East

• Israel

Asia and the Pacific

• Australia
• Hong Kong