Be Wary of The New Omicron Variant and Its Impacts

On November 24, 2021, a new variant of COVID-19 was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), first detected on November 11, 2021, in Botswana and November 14, 2021, in South Africa.

The new variant is named Omicron and is now officially classified as a variant of concern by the WHO. Since then, countries in North America have reported the first confirmed cases starting on December 1.

Within the past few days, the Omicron variant has spread around the globe in Europe and Asia. Countries like Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, and Germany have reported at least one confirmed case since December 5. Asia also suffers from the same fate as Europe. South Korea first confirmed cases on December 2, followed by Thailand, India, and Japan.

Currently, not much is known about the new variant and its mortality rate in patients. Thankfully, no death cases are reported to this date of December 7.

However, according to CDC, it is expected to be more transmissible than the original COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Symptoms and illnesses are still unanswered as researchers need more data to collect from infected patients. Fortunately, both CDC and WHO claim that they can fight Omicron through vaccination and masks.